‘Independence’ by Richard Hawtree
At six o’clock one August evening we
slipped over the kitchen window sill
to a cracked terrace where the gardener
had been off-duty since Independence.
No snipers in the rhododendron beds
observed our Calabrese liquorice
aperitif, no Crossley tenders pitched
down terraces from Montenotte.
By midnight there was little need for caution
in downing alcohol. Just two of us
untended in a Cork garden,
kowtowing to the postcolonial ferns.
From issue #4: spring/summer 2017
About the Author
Richard Hawtree’s poems have appeared in British and Irish literary magazines, including The Stinging Fly, Scintilla, The Penny Dreadful and Brain of Forgetting. He teaches Creative Writing at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, UK.
