Frank Phelan
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That Look!
Ruddy red cheeks and Granddad's woolen cap
put a farmer's head on a chubby little frame.
A winter Aran of cobalt blue and hobnail boots
complete the agri-couture
– the look de rigueur –
for the girl about town in Granddad's back garden.
Her world could be a field of all the world's potatoes.
Or a fishing boat on the briny sea,
but not today such innocent fare
in eyes betraying a grander ambition.
A picture can paint a thousand lies,
but a twinkle can unhook
a bucket of snakes.
Or at least bring surety to the skeptical parent
that Little Miss Innocence, here,
knows way more than mere adventure –
this one knows where the mischief is buried.
Frank Phelan (He/him) is a Dublin born writer living and writing in county Kildare, Ireland. A member of Worldly Worders collective creatives, he writes in long and short form poetry and prose. Frank is a contributing poet on madswirl.com and his poem Do not self-isolate (your house or your mind) was included in the print edition of Mad Swirl’s Best of 2020 Anthology published in February 2021. He also read the poem as part of the online launch of the Anthology from Texas in March 2021. Frank was the winner of the Together FM ‘Ballyfermot 70th Birthday’ commemorative poetry competition in 2018 for his composition ‘Home’ and was invited to read as part of Ireland’s Culture Night 2019. He has been published in print in Mad Swirl, the Blue Nib lit mag, Cork Evening Echo, and was shortlisted for the Kanturk Arts Festival for flash fiction in 2018. Frank has a life-long love of music and radio and works in media training and radio documentary making.