‘The First Casualty of Summer’ by Emily Cooper

Can a dropped ice cream be a joyful sight?
A sleight of thought, akin to road kill: a dead badger
is still a badger that was once alive.

Can a spark of juvenile pride (the curl tightly
looped to touch the forehead of the whipped pile)
be saved from extinction

once it lies, semi-freddo on the pavement?
Losing shape and form and purpose –
a small death or not one at all.

From issue #6: spring/summer 2018

About the Author
Emily Cooper is an Irish writer who lives in Donegal. Her poetry and prose has been published in the Stinging Fly, Irish Times, Hotel, Poetry Ireland Review, Bath Magg and others. She was a recipient of the 2019 Next Generation Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and took part in the Poetry Ireland Introductions series. Her debut pamphlet Glass was published by Makina Books in 2020.