Aitche
Thank you for aitche
—its itch, its ache—
thank you for shifting the posts
and lifting the ships
—Minerva, Clifton, Lancashire Witch—
their wakes, their lists of ghosts:
say Mayo, say Galway
or Dublin, say,
travelling from or travelling to,
the aitchless generations'
aching voices coming through,
their silent aspirations coming true.
for Denis O'Connor
first published in Sport 31, Spring 2003