Smithereens Press Chapbooks SP14 - The Lighthouses by Daragh Breen | Page 13

Mutton Island; 1817, inactive since 1977
Aran North; 1857, 35 metres, white flash every 15 seconds
Inishmore; 1818, inactive since 1857

Morning on Inis Mór, the musty rust smell
of where ocean meets land,
the gauze of drizzle snagging like cobwebs
against the stone walls
and the pre-history muscle-smell of bulls,
creatures that broke free of the water one morning
coming snorting ashore fully formed.
Dusk, just above the horizon,
the sun is the blood-soaked reds
of a foal’s birthing sack,
as it torches the water it becomes a bonfire.

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