Because of a parade, the road to Bushmills is closed.
It’s the only road that leads to Portrush, a town
less than nine miles away, where we’ve been told
there’s a laundromat. At a roadblock on the edge of town
a police officer directs us down winding roads
with a series of karate-like arm motions.
We don’t mention we’re on our honeymoon.
Instead, we shift our rental car into gear & drive
toward Dundarave. Jackdaws & coal tits flutter
& soar overhead, but they have more pressing worries
than ancient battles, marching bands, & laundry.
After nearly an hour of wrong turns & backtracking,
we once again find ourselves on the road to Bushmills.
In defeat, we head back to our B&B, the jackdaw’s
chyak chyak call lost on the wind. Union Jacks
hang from lampposts, flapping in the July breeze.
Jason Irwin is the author of the three full-length poetry collections, most recently The History of Our Vagrancies (Main Street Rag, 2020). He was a 2022 Zoeglossia Fellow and has also had nonfiction published in various journals including the Santa Ana Review, & The Catholic Worker. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA USA. www.jasonirwin.blogspot.com https://voxpopulisphere.com/tag/michael-simms/
More work by Jason Irwin
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