HE NEVER GOT BACK TO ME

Finola Cahill

I check my email I wish I hadn’t mispronounced her name,

I check my email multiple times. I dream of flagstones falling

I check my email from the sky, wake up chugging, chesty from/

I check my email in traffic congestion. Hugo is serious,

I check my email at 2, already. How does time create us?

I check my email Rilke seems to suggest we savour it, time,

I check my email ephemeral passage, the waiting. I can’t,

I check my email that night, we spoke about age. Your 40s,

I check my email the racing speed of years. I made a glib comment,

I check my email something about botox. You reminded me

I check my email the issue is dying, you said, the worry is death.

Finola Cahill is a writer from Ballina, Co. Mayo. In 2023 she won the Waterford Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Bridport, Fish, and Cheltenham Poetry prizes, and the Listowel Writers Week Collection Award. Her poetry has been published in the London Magazine, An Capall Dorcha, Fat Éire, and others. She is working towards publishing her first collection.