Declan Ryan's debut pamphlet was published as part of the Faber New Poets series. His second pamphlet, Fighters, Losers, was published last year by New Walk.
Bar Italia
for Hugo Williams
I know the place. Rarely in the day,
usually down the back, among tifosi - inhumanists:
their one true love the shirt, its primary colours.
I’ve been here with different yous, nothing lasted -
beer at silver tables, the bells of midnight warming
up their golden throats, leopard jackets,
summer air a song about late light, God in violet
heaven; Amaretto, Amaretti, Amarat...
This morning at the bar, Rocky Marciano
makes eye-contact from the cave of his record
Monochrome, hermetic, perfected - he knows about me,
what this over-priced coffee means to say
start over, cuore rosso, today is young,
anywhere but here it might seem possible, etc.
