' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' Only The Shadow Knows(For Scarlett) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

He wouldn’t come out
of the closet

though she shouted
& shouted

his name
like a trapped bird

flying from room
to room

hiding from Auntie
was too much

fun

to let her discover
how he could disappear

at will

be there in this
too too

solid flesh
one second

& then cease
to exist

he laughing himself
to bits

then scared shitless

as her ogress footsteps
approached his hiding place

like a fairy story
turning Grimm

her voice
flinging open

the wardrobe where
he hid

up inside her
hung skirt


(the Sunday one with brown
buttons on & pink pleats)

he standing in her
shoes

(the sexy Sunday high heels)

invisible because he had
become her

clothes.

She stares
& stares

unsure of being
sure

her breath
hissing through her nose

he almost
pissing himself

it seems she is just about to
when...then

she turns
& goes

trots downstairs

leaving him alone
in the darkness

her whalebone corset
like an alien
creature

digging him
in the soft back of the knee

its vulcanised smell
getting up his nose

giving him
the creeps

no way now is he
going to come out

of the closet

she can shout
& shout

“Can anyone tell me
where that Dónall goes? ”

she wails
Llke a Lady
from Shalot.

He giggles
to himself

camouflaged amongst
here among her

tights & stockings
frocks & dresses

hiding up her clothes
invisible to the last

steadfast as a shadow
amongst shadows

A mystery
even to him self.