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University of St. Thomas (Center for Irish Studies)
MousetrapAuthor(s): Thomas O'GradySource: New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer, 2000), p. 41Published by: University of St. Thomas (Center for Irish Studies)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20557652 .
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Fil?ocht Nua: New Poetry
MOUSETRAP
Folk Museum, Toomevara, Co. Tipperary
Build a better mousetrap, a wise man said,
and the world will heat a path to your door.
A bitter pill for that creature we found dead
last week, a fetal form on the closet floor,
batted there, we guessed (the rattle and bang
of the night before explained), by a gray
flurry of unsheathed claw and naked fang, a lap cat turned tiger at end of day.
But spill no tears for such a brute demise.
Imagine instead that quaint contraption
in Toomevara, the crudest of machines:
a baited box, bottom-hinged for?surprise!?
a scaffold drop to a water-filled tin_
Would death seem sweeter by any other means?
LAMENT FOR MY FAMILY, LOST AT SEA
So small that rain-besotted, wind-plagued place?
so shipwreck-shallow its surrounding seas.
Unmoored at last, cast off with derelict
concern, we swore to plant our masts?each sail
trimmed to a blazoned flag saluting Life!?
atop some lofty point of no return.
The thrill of risking all for a rich return?
hedging our bets, wagering that win, place
or show, we could find ourselves set for life:
how brazenly we held to that half-seas
over hope of catching fortune in full sail?
the blind-drunk dream of every derelict.
41
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