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Poetry

shortly after i was born          my father
took me to visit          his father’s grave
he carried my body          to the top of a hill
where his father          was buried
this story has become          a family legend
there was a time before          violence existed
in my family          this was not necessarily
during that time          at the top of the hill i cried
depending on who you ask          i was asleep
at the top of the hill          it was a Tuesday
or it was a Wednesday          my father was
between jobs          he wore a red puffer jacket
i slept for the duration          of the train journey
i cried          for much of the morning
my father held me high above          his father’s grave
no witness          to corroborate events
i cried only when          my father held me
when he          put me in the sky

 

 


Joe Carrick-Varty, a British-Irish poet, is the author of More Sky (Carcanet), winner of an Eric Gregory Award. His second collection of poems is forthcoming in 2026.

 

 

 

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

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