Valentine's Poem

In 2006, RTE's Poetry Programme, then compered by Pat Boran, put out a call for poems for Valentine's day. I was standing in the kitchen, making a meal for mise agus himse when I remembered that my mum used to say that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Not the sort of thing that makes sense to a small child, but how it resonates years later.

This is from Kairos and yes, I think I have hauled this out before...

The Garden of Earthly Delights

In the kitchen, Valentine,
it will begin with the green
curlicues of garlic shoots hid
in the cold shelf of the fridge.

The prying, bulging eyes of spuds
will wink in the clammy closeness
of their plastic bag. All being pulled
spring-tight tonight, through the tilting

built into their bolting seed husks.
And you too will respond with the flick
in your loins, the click in your head
as my hands riot in the radishes,

tease out the aubergine chunks,
toss together pillows of cherry tomatoes
and delight in these firm ruins
of last year's seedpods. There,

Valentine, is where you will begin.