For the last three days
between Santiago and Cee
I have walked at a furious pace
trying to outrun my thoughts.
Now I am on the cliff top gazing at the sea.
I abandoned my fellow pilgrims
as I felt uneasy with a disparate group
from Italy, Germany, England, Brazil and America.
I felt that they found me unacceptable,
a contract written in white ink,
its terms clear but silent.
They booked an apartment for themselves
and I was given the couch to sleep on.
I snook off without a word and found my own bed to say in.
I have tried to forgive myself to no avail.
Their faces haunt me.
Walking along the cliff edge
I realise I have always been on the edge
of friends, family, neighbours and work,
and I exclude myself.
The sea is a sheet of the clearest blue,
the wind brushes a ripple over the surface.
Published in Crossways issue 8 https://crosswayslit.com/1095-2/
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Published by diarmuidfitzgerald
I am a poetry and prose writer. I write poetry, haiku, haibun, short stories as well as novels. Two haiku collections have been published by Alba Publishing (www.albapublising.com). Thames Way appeared in 2015 and A Thousand Sparks in 2018. Poems have appeared in The Stinging Fly, Cyphers, Boyne Berries, The Blue Nib, Flare, Impossible Archetype, and Crannóg. A poem of mine won 2nd place in the Ballyroan Library Competition 2018 and again in 2020. I won the Individual Artist Bursary from South Dublin County Council 2018. I won a scholarship to attend the Yeats Summer School 2018 in Sligo. Sixteen poems of mine were Highly Commended in the Blue Nib Chapbook Contests IV and V in 2019. A poem was shortlisted in the Bray Literary Festival in 2018. A poem was long-listed in Over The Edge Poetry Competition 2019. A haibun received an honourable mention in the Genjuan Haibun Competition 2021. The Singing Hollow, my first collection of poems, has been accepted for publication by Alba Publishing.
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