When I leave Northern Ireland

After Colette Bryce

When I leave Northern Ireland I want heavy rain,
the damp in cars and clothes seeping into bones, coming out at bedtime in shivers
through the belly. Want bedsheets and kneesocks pulled up high; the high drama of water
hitting window hard.
Great drying and brave skies are for another day. I wish the weather would oblige me
when leaving here behind.

What is it brings you here some ask and I go on (and on) about writing, books and friends.
(Ever harder, the full truth.) I don’t mention glacial wedges and puddles of bog water nor
hills rising above street level and heavy tarmac kissed by rain. I do not say here
strikes a chord with me that is not touched upon elsewhere. I do not say I
bring my love, my loneliness,
no less.

“When I leave Northern Ireland” featured in the 11th issue
of
Studi Irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies in June 2021.