Wonderful poem, Cally! I like Donaghy's poetry so much, and though I've seen a number of his pieces, I'm abashed I don't know it better. I look forward to giving some time to it this week. Thank you for starting this thread, Katy.
Here's one that I have in an old Hudson Review, Winter 2000 issue. I have no idea what collection it would be in.
Refusals
Shooting their horses and setting their houses alight,
The faithful struck out for a hillside in Sussex
To wait for the prophesied rapture to take them
At midnight, New Year's Eve, 1894.
But they knelt in the slow drifting snow singing hymns,
Hushing their children and watching the stars,
Until the sky brightened and the cold sun rose white
Over the plain where their houses still smouldered.
Some froze there all day, some straggled back sobbing
To salvage what little remained of their lives,
Others went mad and refused, 'til the end of their days
To believe that the world was still there.
Here, ten seconds to midnight, they join in the count
Over tin horns squealing in the bright drunk rooms.
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