PLATO’S CAVE Peter O’Neill is the author of several books, most recently More Micks Than Dicks, a hybrid Beckettian novella in 3 genres currently out of print, and The Dublin Trilogy: Poems & Transversions 1992-2017, a singular engagement with a 19th century French Master; launched in Paris in November last year to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Baudelaire’s death. He recently presented je la dis comme elle vientv - The Appearance of the Homeric Muse in Beckett’s Comment c’est/How It Is at the How It Is Symposium organised by Gare Saint Lazare Players Ireland at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. He teaches EFL and resides in Dublin.
Plato’s Cave – In The Gladstone for Paul We sit, my brother and I, in the back room. The spring light from the sun shines outside, Burnishing the old cottage style windows At the front of the pub, causing the Caravaggio effect, so that The old men appear more like giants, With their bottles and glasses before them, Their hubbub and chatter calming us. The fire then in the hearth ablaze, Throwing, with the sun, the silhouettes And shadows, adding to the illusory
Nature of the place. The world outside shut Tight, so that whenever the latch is lifted Liberty almost falters, under the spell.
© liveencounters.net POETRY & WRITING june 2018