POEM FOR SAINT PADDY'S DAY

[here's a poem I wrote in the 1960s

first published in my book ROCKY DIES YELLOW
in 1974, and will be in my new lifelong collection:
ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY coming out April 24th:]



DREAMING OF THE POTATO

your grandfather being
alone lived in it loved
it & gave birth to another
felt his arms noticed the potato skin
he was hard & white & something to chew
inside

He had a dream called him-in-America
where potatoes were roses

He carried one gnarled & petrified
to keep away arthritis

Where he lived if you dug too deep
the earth was white wet & hard

“With people there has been trouble
With the potato we have been happy”


(C) Michael Lally 1974, 2018