Jamie O’Halloran

Failing to Reach Percy Peaks, Christine Lake

 

 

The canopy of late summer arches over the trail.

No sign of autumn. The leaves are persistently green.

 

The trees, with the wind, fool me

to think I am at sea under bloated sails.

 

Blue paint daubed at eye level on the occasional tree confirms

the way along belts of root and granite. The forest floor is

 

dense and soft with seasons going. It lifts and drops

like the crickets’ chant. This is the path I want.

 

Jamie O'Halloran's Corona Connemara & Half a Crown won 2nd place in the 2021 Fool for Poetry International Chapbook competition. She lives in Connemara.