Mickey Corrigan

Making the Sky Great Again

Back then the night was dark
and young, the old moon fat
and deliciously lopsided, 
and everyone watched it
belittle itself, curl up
in a tangerine ball and sink
into the blue-black sea.

Now, draped in the light
polluted semi-darkness,
the forgotten moon
casts a slim brilliance
proud of a performance
to be repeated
over and over,
choreographed nightly
for a sky-blind audience
of billions.

Wrecking Ball Fever

Is every Eden someone else's bulldozed home?—Philip Metres

There you go, women
packing your bags again
setting off in vans and trucks
parking at airports, driving for days
the wigs, the tan, the new
looks, names, you
want to disappear
scratch that itch
with a blow torch.

Your mind is full
of paths and signs
stars, maps, proper alignments
corridors that lead to doors
that lead to more corridors
away from yourself.

What you leave behind
smashed into rubble
ready for the new wives
to stake their tender hearts.

Counterpoint

When you awaken to the lunge
of small animals on the roof
take the temperature
of your heart.

It will be hot.
Too hot
to sleep.

This is when you rise
go outside
walk the cool wet sand
let the salted breeze
rustle your flyaway hair,
the starry dazzle
draw your tired eyes
to the pitch perfect sea.

You know the sun
will soon slip up
through the usual slot
in the pale horizon
as it does each day
while you tend to your garden.

Why would it stop
because you lie still
in the hole you have dug
all these long dirty years?

Close your eyes and spin
across the empty beach
until the unfinished dreams
fling far from your mind.

Ask yourself then:
why should I
be saved this time?

Your answer must bob
to the paper thin surface
of a cold, cold heart.

 

Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan writes tropical noir with a dark humor. Novels include Project XX about a school shooting (Salt Publishing, UK, 2017) and What I Did for Love, a spoof of Lolita (Bloodhound Books, UK, 2019). In 2020, Grandma Moses Press released the poetry micro-chapbook Florida Man. The Physics of Grief puts the fun back in funerals while taking a serious look at the process of mourning (QuoScript, UK, April 2021).