Back when there were still income tax and traffic lights.
When people still put things in microwave ovens
and ate them afterwards sat on what they used to call
sofas, while watching outtakes from The Apprentice
on that other, second-most-important
mid-twentieth century invention.
Back when there was still an internet
and people could access electricity
by just plugging in the kettle,
didn’t have to stand under a rare tree
in all-too-frequent storm and hope for the worst.
Back when two small people spent
what would be their final years in a gorgeous
pre-World War Three house,
built on land that’s now far beneath
an ocean there’s no one around to name,
in which the bacteria and an occasional
three eyed fish nightly celebrate their victory.
This poem is from new book Sex and Death at Merlin Park Hospital published by Salmon, which will be launched at The House Hotel, Galway, on 14th June 2019.
Image Credit: Pixabay