Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

All poets are at times taken up, directly or indirectly, with being different from the rest of society, and are generally preoccupied with this problem.

A poet is, almost by definition, an individualist; he/she stands for the private, as distinct from the public values, and for the protection of private sensibility against the influence of the mass.

This is not because he/she despises the mass; on the contrary, he/she tries to see the mass as individuals like him or her self, equally able to cultivate their separateness.

This week's poem from Gerard Coughlan of Douglas in County Cork illustrates the point.

Morning-coffee in Douglas

I could be in the tea-room
Of the Albert and Victoria museum:
Same patient queues,
Clatter of delph and cutlery,
Discreet enquiries about scones
Or Carrot cake.
Elderly couples on display
Comfortable in silence
Or easy interludes of conversation;
Content to sit and observe,
Comment or criticize ....
With only the surround-mirrors
Registering their agedness
And private,
Postponed terrors.

© Gerard Coughlan