Electric Ireland

The pavement on Pembroke Street,
The flattened chewing-gum, the damp
Remnant of last night’s rain on the slabs
Of concrete. And the postman,
Seeing me on the street, hands me
Two books in jiffy-bags –
Leland Bardwell’s stories
And Billy O’Callaghan’s first novel –
And also two ordinary envelopes,
One containing an ESB bill (or a bill,
From Electric Ireland, the ESB’s new name),
The other a parking permit from the City Council
That covers two years, as the last disc did,
The one that is now about to expire.


A United Ireland
...