The Model

She was swallowed up
by the pea-green Seine,
its murk lapped over her,
pulling her into its belly,
a sorrow-drowned nap
underneath the Pont Neuf
ending with a watery slip
into the reeking roils.

In life she longed to pose,
to be frozen in paint,
garbed as a young boy or
maybe an unchaste Diana,
and though plain as milk,
she paced the place Pigalle
to be passed over for more
pinched or rollicking types.

Slabbed in the morgue,
she is sketched from life,
a cadaver in some canvas,
a cheap anatomy lesson,
who will rot on the pages,
like in the paupers' grave,
where she'll lie with the rest
of the forgotten of Paris.

Venus in a Bottle

Legless but harmless
stretched on the Métro platform,
bottle in her hand.

After Manet's Olympia

Fresh Olympia,
you're full-bodied and fragrant
like Burgundy wine.

Detained Imports

Banned fodder: fresh meats,
semen, embryos and hides.
Foot-and-mouth disease.

^

Biography

Originally from Dublin, I now live in Galway where I work as a librarian in the university. A graduate of TCD and DCU, I have a Masters in Irish language translation. I also hold a Certificate in Women's Studies from NUI Galway. My poetry and short stories have been published in the Cúirt Journal, Poetry Ireland Review, Wildeside, Burning Bush, Books Ireland, Ropes, West 47, Markings and Westword. My work will also be featured in the forthcoming anthology Treasures by the Poets of Ireland, as well as The Shop. I am a founder member of Garters, a women's writing group in Galway. I have taken part in many public readings, including Poets' Platform at Cúirt; readings for World Book Day and Seachtain na Gaeilge; as well as Poetry Slam in the Galway Arts Centre, and readings in Galway City Library. I have also taken part in a Poetry Masterclass with Paul Muldoon at the 2000 Scríobh Festival. I am working on a novel, and also towards publishing first collections of poetry and short stories.