Poem of the Week: “Going Places” by John McAuliffe

Do you have a memory of a childhood trip? “Going Places” by John McAuliffe from the Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume III is a tribute to such journeys. As we get older, it is sometimes comforting to remember the times when we got to sit in the backseat and imagine “giant invisible horses”, instead of focusing on the reality of adulthood in which one must sit in the front seat and drive the car.

Going Places

It doesn’t happen often. Stuck in my room, say,
Looking at rain or for a book, seeing that the floor may
Need hoovering, hungover possibly,
Re-arranging the postcards on the wall:
At times like this
I begin to remember childhood afternoons,
Sitting in the backseats of cars, going places,
Telephone wires on either side, like fences
For giant invisible horses.

–John McAuliffe, from The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume III (2013)