Go West Young Man...! (For Lyn) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

I’m heading West
(where ever that is) .

I march off
into the distance
of field & sky.

West is where
my Uncle is.

I cut through
the heat haze.

My uncle’s dinner
wrapped up in a scarf
on the end of a stick

as if I am
running away for ever.

Tea slops
in an old milk bottle

with a piece of cloth
as a stopper.

I stare into the empty air
as if suddenly I will discover there

a sign saying:
“West – this way! ”

My Auntie Nellie’s instructions
still stamped on the inside of my stupid skull.

“Go west into the field
with your Uncle Michael’s dinner.

“Tell him...”

Me too terrified to tell her
I don’t know
where West is?

Typical townie!

I search the farm
field by field

‘till I finally find him
sprouting out of a field
with a cloud attached to his head

beside the broken rickety gate
where the tiniest ever wild strawberries grow.

So this is where
West is!

Why didn’t she say so
in the first place!

This I know!

Why send me like a fool
on a child’s errand!

My uncle devours
everything ‘cept
the scarf & the stick.

Tells me
(“Oh no! ”)

to go South to
where Uncle Seanie is

and...