New Poem by John Redmond

Eyewear is very pleased to publish a new poem by Irish poet John Redmond today, as part of its 5th anniversary celebrations this June.  Dr Redmond is the author of one of the best guides to creative writing I know - How To Write A Poem - a hugely imaginative manual.  He also recently published a very original and satisfying collection of poems from Carcanet, MUDe.

Rogue Lock

Such a door

to rebuff me — with a hint

in its knots

of obversity.

Towards my glittering bunch

tremendous oblong

shadows

sprang from the wood.

The lock was rogue.

Master after master

froze. Frustration

rang for corridors

as I blundered towards

the final key: one

with a sleepy-eyed

and solemn look

like me.

I pushed him in.

Scratches rose

on my skin.

As the whole bunch

roared encouragement,

and rich, outrageous

college-shadows

churned the grain,

I tested it,

and twisted it.

But such a door!

It snapped my proxy off

and swallowed him.

When I knelt my eye

to the eye of the obstacle,

my little self

could not be seen. But

in the bloody

keyhole walls,

a tiny door

shut.