Poetry: Kevin Higgins

Memorial to Myself

I have been away toasting tables lined
with the pricier variety of imbecile;
humouring old buzzards in Aran sweaters
and cranky caps
until their sweaters collapsed
threadbare off their bastard backs.
I have cut ribbons for guys
floating balloons across the town square
and calling it dance.
I have eaten with people of enormous importance
and forgotten most of their names.

I did not shrivel like the rest of them.
Though they thought they had me
I was not bought and sold at the market stall
where you can get (third hand)
Fianna Fail senators cheaper
than Mayo flags two weeks after
an All Ireland defeat.

I am again what I was before
and secretly always was
though I sometimes had to hide it.
I did not kill the dream I dreamt with those others
not all of whom made it this far.
Tonight I consult their ghosts.

Feature Image: Higgins and Ivana Bacik campaigning during the 2011 presidential race.