The Brownlows
Were loyal and steadfast, like granite against the sea:
‘The only thing that ran in our family was the greyhound.’
The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife
I might as well be another guest
at the wedding-feast
of Strongbow and Aoife Mac Murrough
as watch you, Mary,
try to get to grips
with a spider-crab’s
crossbow and cuirass.
A creative pause before the second course
of Ireland’s whole ox on a spit;
the invisible waitress
brings us each a Calvados and water-ice.
It is as if someone had slipped
a double-edged knife between my ribs
and hit the spot exactly.
Send Letters To:
The Editor
London Review of Books,
28 Little Russell Street
London, WC1A 2HN
letters@lrb.co.uk
Please include name, address, and a telephone number.
