This poem won 2nd place in the Ballyroan Library Competition 2018.
In the Bath
I step in
and skin is scalded
the meniscus crawls up my face
my chest hairs are dancing reeds
my nose rests above the surface like a crocodile
silence is a muffled drum
a piano struck in a distant room
I listen to the slightest flicker of a finger
the shudder of shoulders
I run my hand across my legs and chest
touch is dulled by the water
I come back into the humid air
my eyes full
I speak and set the atoms dancing
Diarmuid Fitzgerald 