Calculations

Patricia Walsh

Cork

Ireland

‘You cannot divide by zero’
I write my own jokes, too.
A big fat nought, gibes amiss
Miss the target, shred the opposition
seated in front, baiting my life.

‘You can eat yourself slim, you know.’
Gorge on the good things in life.
Temperatures dropping in a private oasis
skinning wind your only reward.
Brave the cold, since you have to.

‘You’re intelligent, but you don’t work.’
Rip out my brains and
give it to someone who needs them.
Cold storage for independent reference
future genius is standing by.

‘Don’t mix paper and plastic’
recyclable ideals catch on, for the better,
as long as you abide by the function
sleeping the sleep of the just,
sated by righteousness, a godly heart.

‘There’s always someone worse off than you.’
Wipe clean the record collection, resurrect the iPod,
and burn the earholes with preferred music.
Stand-offing boredom, watching through windows
the burning adventure of genuine life.

Bio: Patricia was born and raised in the small parish of Mourneabbey, Mallow, County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Her previous publications include a book of poetry, titled Continuity Errors, and a novel, The Quest for Lost Eire, published in 2014. Patricia has also been published in a number of journals.