Bioluminescence

By Clare Mulvany

 

The waves of West Cork are dancing with light. 

They hide under the canopy of darkness, 

growing in their secret. 

In this lake: liquid lore. 

In these waters: tincture of stars. 

 

We wait until near midnight, 

then drive the narrow back roads, 

twisting, giddy. 

The moon has been waning, and now is gone. 

‘Dark skies are best’, say the locals,

‘And hold out for cloud-cover too.’

 

Tonight’s forecast: the possibility of the stars aligning. 

 

So we talk about religion and the rituals of prayer. 

In a world long ago, I was bound by obligation

and my body grew to the dictates of men. 

 

But now, as we park the car, as I distill 

my clothes to nakedness, as I inch my toes towards 

that first cold shimmering, 

a ritualistic roar comes out of my wonder, 

and my lungs shudder at the sight. 

 

The night has turned to wave-worship. 

 

We are limbs, bathing in a lightening bolt.

We are bodies blasted open

by single-cell organisms

raising havoc with delight. 

 

My breasts are dipped in inkwells of the luminous

And I think I could drown myself in this prayer. 

Here is a God I can kneel at.

 

Yes, the night has turned to sacrament. 

 

We are water-dwelling tabernacles; 

We are sanctuary. 

There is magic on our skin, and we are glowing. 

 

A rosary of raindrops falls. 

Silver and gold, and gems and flecks of science. 

I can’t quite bring myself to cry, so I dive. 

 

Under the glowing, between the seaweed and this seismic shift, 

my breath comes back to me, filling my dark interior with 

something close to everlasting. 

 

Later, as we drive back across the mountain, 

I glimpse down towards Lough Hyne, 

looking like everything is normal. 

Meanwhile, I may have swallowed a mouthful of holy 

and inside I can feel it churning. 

 

Tonight, for once, the forecast was right:

Sometimes we need to go under to find our way back to the light.

 

 

Moss

By Clare Mulvany

 

Sit low. Linger with undergrowth. Find the 

inklings of moss and still dwellings of ground mist. 

Piece together your fingers with mud. Prize apart

your wrists with etchings of rock. 

Can you feel the coldness there? Can you feel

the curvature of the earth’s rim in each pebble? 

Sit with the damp layer. 

Get uncomfortable with grit. 

Here on the glossy skin of the earth sits the 

hubris of beginnings, looking dank and filled with 

the dead of last year’s growth. 

Whoever thought life would spring from here, 

in this messy fold of clay and coverage. 

Listen? Can you hear the saplings

trying to push up from the floor? Can you hear the effort they make

to bring stem to form, to root down deeper into the belly of 

the land? 

This spouting has lessons. So sit low.

Let your fingernails be earthed. Let the seeds

in your skin push up to germinate your dreams;

this mossy and thick life-force. You are magnitude. 

This is just beginning.

 

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Cover photo by xx liu on Unsplash

Centre photo by Fabian Wiktor on Unsplash