The Other Place

Brendan Cleary

• Publisher: Pighog
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781906309565
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

Through a series of love letters and individual poems that are both conversational and extraordinary, Cleary beautifully explores the ghosts of his past and what it means to experience a loss, promising to leave readers dewy-eyed with a deep yearning for more.

1.

I knew there was one thing

I needed to do today

buy bog roll & I pulled it off

Esme do you ever get those days

when you feel like you’re drowning

water everywhere & no more bread

pints in the afternoon

have become natural to me

it’s become my job

2.

Esme I’m reliably informed

I’m not ‘relationship material’

I think it’s got something

to do with the drink & drugs

the constant gambling

& I’ve no reason to doubt

the folk who tell me this

but where does that leave us?

I can walk with you

down the avenue of trees

or I could whirl your soul

around a field like a frisbee

the frisbee of love Esme

the stars cry for your bones

I could eat your hair

but the council tax bill

the bungalow & the sofa bed

I’m uncertain about all of these things

3.

it was a stupid bet Esme

Doncaster to draw

& they’re beaten 6-nil

‘hell is other people’

said Sartre I believe

& the ten men of Oldham Athletic

fit into this theory

but there’s a horse running tomorrow

that’s in Tom’s notebook

& this usually means

something good might happen

4.

a strange beam of light

cuts through the dark

this night as I dream

I know it’s you Esme

so imagine you naked

or semi-naked at least

I know you’re watching

& in the morning cafe

we’ll kiss below the fire escapes

5.

Gordon jumped off a bridge

into the river at Durham

& Mama & Dada vanished

Big Facey died in his yard

Esme I hope it’s OK

to tell you stuff like this

6.

I don’t believe in fate

only heartache & hotels

where we’ll end up Esme

Switzerland & Oslo Norway

the Railway Hotel in Newcastle

as the pale light collapses

& we wander to Chinatown

for Crispy Aromatic Duck

so please don’t say you don’t want this

7.

Esme I’m sliding down

en route with the Sauce Doctor

a long journey over trees

the light so extraordinary

but this wine has got a grip

so I’ll get back to you tomorrow

Cafe Paris

you ask me to explain

the Deep Existential Void

in Cafe Sartre over espresso

but I flounder about

the clouds descending

offering no conclusion

& the side of your breast

enters my view at random

ordering another croissant

Our Rooms

just my own room now

& not yours nor the dawn

with the half-packet

of Rich Tea at your bedside

no only my room now

the Jimmie Rodgers CD

the ashtray of hash

& in the sketchbook your only photo

My Addictions

you know all about

my addictions

...