In honour of Bridget Flannery:
Guests trickle in, coins clenched in their grasp,
though darkness has fallen and debts are cleared.
Her artwork, gracefully displayed —
hints of azure, purified white,
and the poignant indigo of her seashores —
evoke an era where the youngsters
were like tiny fish, coming to land to feed,
or to drape their swimwear over the tub.
The gentle hum of the gathering snakes and bends
from the mortician’s entrance to the city’s pavement.
Within, our existence intensifies, as if cylinders of pigment
were painstakingly pressed, a harsh burst of hues
through sorrow-stricken limbs, lungs, and innards.
Imposing marshlands are densely indicated,
with shades of burnt umber and yellow, devoid of form,
resonating the faultless tone,
a mastery of intertwined moorland,
charred sprigs of the previous year’s heather.
She publicises her expenses — motherly,
sensual— on canvases too grand
for a dignified space, indicators
of her audacious venture, intense crimson
engulfing the hemisphere with affection.
Now, while still toying with our coins,
we hug each other, wary of the price,
with her beautiful creations, borne from struggle and forgiveness
extracted from her existence and her end.
By nightfall, stepping out onto the pavement once more,
we come to, rub our eyes at a lavender sky,
the type she refrained from ever painting.
Mary O’Donnell is a celebrated creative force – a poet, short story creator and novelist. Her chapbook, Outsiders Always, courtesy of Southword Editions, made its debut in 2023.
The scarred stems of past year’s ling serve as a reminder of her unconventional life. She documents her expenses— motherly and sensual— on surfaces excessively broad for an accepted parlour, signs portraying her capricious outburst, with alizarin saturating the hemisphere with passion. Presently, amidst our apprehensions of the expenditure, we hold each other close, still accounting with coins. We appreciate these hard-earned, leniently delightful things, acquired from her experiences of life and impending death. Later that evening, out in the street, we open our eyes to an amethyst sky, the kind she would never commit to canvas. Mary O’Donnell is recognised as a poet, an author of short stories, and a novelist. Her chapbook, “Outsiders Always”, published by Southword Editions, was released in 2023.