Kevin
Mc Dermott

Elsewhere
The line of light at the horizon speaks
Of a world elsewhere.
The voices captured in the chimney speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The clattering train switching tracks speaks
Of a world elsewhere.
The swans struggling to rise into the air speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The lambs in the belly of the ewe speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The whispering syllables of a stranger’s tongue speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The barbed-wire fence at the border crossing speaks
Of a world elsewhere.
The angular shapes of ships and stacked containers speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The standing stones in the ancient circle speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The winter imagery in my dreams speaks
Of a world elsewhere.
The dead relatives in the black-and-white photograph speak
Of a world elsewhere.
The suitcases by the door speak
Of a world elsewhere.
I walk
Forward
Step by small
Step towards
A world
Elsewhere.

Immanation of Silence
Time now to turn off the radio.
Time now to switch off the house lights.
Time now to stand still in this space.
Time now to allow
The immanation of silence.
Time now to confront the solitude.
Time now for the soul’s reckoning.
Time now to approach the foreshore of the mind.
I cross the rocks of the backshore.
I cross the berms and ridges.
I cross the oozy mud.
I cross the first waves.
I stand and face the horizon.
I listen for the silence beyond the silence.

Kevin Mc Dermott is a Dublin-based writer. He is the author of six novels for young adults. His writing for radio includes plays, feature-length documentaries, essays and short stories. His poems have been published in journals and magazines and broadcast on RTE, the Irish national broadcast service.