Filíocht Nua: New Poetry

Street game for the over 15s

Take a broad and empty face,Insert a pair of artful eyesHigh in cunning, short on shame,Mean mouth, loose lips.

Remove the normal human mind,Substitute a swollen self,Oversized but incomplete;

Austere. Subnormal. Neatly dressed.

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Form a circle,Throw the hatchet.Run for coverIf he catch it.

Hide and seek.

Close your eyesAnd say your prayers.Bare your necksAnd start counting.

I grew up in Inchicore in the 1930s. The children enjoyed themselves out in the street with simple street games. The games grew rougher with their years. By age fifteen we were in rival street gangs and the games grew rougher still.