Tobin, Gráinne

Ireland, (b.1951)

Missing

…my turquoise. I had it of Leah
when I was a bachelor.
   — Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
  1.  
  2. We were learning to walk together,
  3. a three-legged pas-de-deux,
  4. stepping out, finding the fit
  5. of arms around waists,
  6. palms in the packed, live
  7. back pocket of the other’s jeans.
  8.  
  9. At Northgate you stopped to buy me
  10. a painted lead curiosity,
  11. a miniature scarlet devil
  12. galloping bareback on a cross black pig –
  13. only six pre-decimal shillings.
  14. I let you put it like an amulet into my hand,
  15. though well taught
  16. not to take presents from strangers.
  17.  
  18. Disappeared, stolen or lost
  19. out of my deep suitcase
  20. on the Holyhead boat
  21. the very first time we were parted.
  22. If I still had that souvenir
  23. I might remember it less.

© Gráinne Tobin. “Three Poems by Gráinne Tobin” The Richmond Review. December 9th, 2002. http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/

About the Poet:

Gráinne Tobin, Ireland, (b.1951) is a poet, translator and educator. She taught in Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle and has published three collections: Banjaxed (2001), The Nervous Flyer’s Companion (2010) and The Uses of Silk (2018). Her poem ‘The Uses of Silk’ was long listed for the 2013 National Poetry Competition.

In 2014, she won the prestigious Segora Poetry Prize with her poem ‘From The Landing Cupboard’, adjudged the winner by Blake Morrison. She was a contributor to and co-editor of the anthology Word of Mouth (1996) and its Russian bilingual text (St Petersburg Writers’ Union, 2004). [DES-11/19]