Over The Gorse

The dress was draped 

over the gorse

before wearing.

From the waltz 

he asked her for every dance.

And by Amhrán na bhFiann

the coconut fragrance

had cemented the deal, 

they stood, hand in hand.

Shuttered

To have the ground you walk on

despise your every step,

and feel the air's abounding scorn

in every single breath.

To look up to the sky above

and sense impending doom.

To be the cause of breaking laws

when the criminal's not you.

Worst of all, to know your men;

fathers, husbands, brothers,

will sit back while your existence,

like your windows, becomes shuttered.

Cricket wins, while women

are quieted in sacks.

Big screens versus being walled in,

I'm alright, Jack.

(Taliban leader bans windows overlooking places 'usually used by women')

Chocolate Liqueurs

Irresistible

in their tiny bottle forms.

We kept insisting

on biting, drawn

to the thin chocolate outside,

trying to avoid 

the gushing liqueur inside

that made us recoil.

Mam got the remains;

messy sludgy fingerprints

on chocolate casings maimed

by tiny teeth imprints.