Gary Beaumier has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2022 Poetry Contest

Rain in Dublin

I want to know what happened to the 90 year old man
who raced up the steps of the Empire State Building several years ago
Has he slipped away in the night in some unremarkable way
while I turned in my sleep

and WH Auden
when his body quit
was I scrapping off the evening dinner plates into the garbage

but then he knew of the world’s indifference

and you mother
at some disconnected hour
in the morning
with your son escorting you
to your very last exhalation
and me your other son between gulps of coffee
not knowing
when I should have been there too

good bye then
as the traffic light changes
and the dogs are let out
good bye

fare thee well
while the geese exchange their places in flight
and the corn grows another inch

adieu
as you sit for your noon day lunch break
watching a fierce blizzard whiten the world
and trading gossip with your colleagues

or is it enough to know that it is raining in Dublin
and to put myself there
a forgiving rain to wash clean my thoughts
as I stumble from a pub
a sad ballad playing in my head

Gary Beaumier is the author of two books of poetry: From My Family to Yours, published through Finishing Line Press, and Dented Brown Fedora, published by Uncollected Press. He has been a boat builder, a teacher, a garbage man, a bookstore manager and a gandydancer, amongst many other occupations. He recently won first prize for Wingless Dreamer’s erotic poetry contest for his poem “Sirocco,” as well as their Sea and Seashore contest for his poem “The Shape of My Absence.” His poem “Night Train to Paris” was a first place winner for Streetlight Magazine. He once taught poetry in a women’s prison.