Three Wonderful Poems by Kenneth Hickey

Darkness

 

Through the darkness I walk like a martyr.

Burnt holy.

Crawling through your fiction.

            I suffer your injuries with doomed dignity.

You held the dawn at bay

Held the light away

But the slowly sparking fire never died.

Watching the world through my burning eyes.

Your treachery was faultless.

Your betrayal immaculate.

You brought me closer to God.

A little voice in the darkness.

Softly cracking.

Risk your soul for me.

The pale light that last morning.

Washing through my blood.

I’m on my knees again.

You can remove the world.

Grant me your eternal darkness.

In darkness.

Our darkness.

Evening Phone Call

 

Mumbling on about how she meant to call,

            Untruths we know,

                        But we love the pretty games,

They save us from ourselves.

            I feel the darkness waiting,

                        It panting breath in my ear.

Touched by flame.

            The more I’m burnt,

                        The quicker I’ve learnt

To only trust my mind.

            Love only lies.

 

Landscape

 

The plague mask hides the porcelain face

Cracking like the mind seeking centre

Hunting a hidden path home

A comfort forever lost

To times dark reaches

 

Rancid rainbows slick sweet water

Robbing gulls of fertile flight

Kenneth Hickey was born in 1975 in Cobh, Co. Cork Ireland. He served in the Irish Naval Service between 1993 and 2000. His poetry and prose has been published in various literary journals in Ireland, the UK and the United States. His writing for theatre has been performed in Ireland, the UK, New York and Paris. He has won the Eamon Keane Full Length Play Award as well as being shortlisted for The PJ O’Connor Award and the Tony Doyle Bursary. His work in film has been screened at the Cork and Foyle Film Festivals. He holds a BA and MA in English Literature both from University College Cork. He still resides in Cork.