In a Drawer In The House Where Oliver St John Gogarty Was Born

13/08/09

In a Drawer In The House Where Oliver St John Gogarty Was Born by Hamish Whyte

Hamish Whyte, a PEN member, is a publisher (Mariscat Press) and a poet: his poetry has been published in various Scottish magazines, and his pamphlet Christmasses was published by Vennel Press in 1998. Recent projects include ‘Virtual memories’ with James McGonigal, and his long poem 'Window on the Garden', published as a book jointly by essence press and Botanics Press in 2006. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University. He now lives in Edinburgh.

In a Drawer In The House Where 
Oliver St John Gogarty Was Born

In a drawer in the house
where Oliver St John Gogarty was born
I found two purple-edged train tickets
each marked SOCIAL WELFARE SINGLE
dated 13 June 2008 (three days before)
Station From: Tralee
Station to: Dublin Heuston
Adult Standard
Price: 0000.00 euros.
The house where St John Gogarty was born
is now a guesthouse offering
budget accommodation
(in its high-ceilinged rooms
still with original features).
I wondered about the standard adults
making this stop on the way to where leaving
two train tickets in a drawer -
I could find no shape for them
but a sadness the length
of Dublin to Tralee.

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