THE RED COAT

He sat on the bunk bed now separated

beside the dormer window, looking down

on the streets and alleyways of North

Belfast capturing the frequency of police 

messages on the little black and white 

Marconi tv.

An A.P.B. went out (all points bulletin) for

The lady in red who was carrying a weapon

Under her coat, he knew it was his sisters

Red maxi coat. His father told him to burn

Her coat the bin in the back yard, she was

Arrested and sent to Middletown juvenile

girls prison. 

My father was detained under

the special powers act for nine months.

His mother was locked up in Armagh

women's prison republicanism was

the order of our day.

 My father is dead and my sister who

was wearing the coat, she killed herself.

I think this is the reason why.

That was the coat that carried the gun

That killed the man?

My father went on the run, feels like

we are still running, him in a grave me

in a wheelchair alone on the motorway

ambulance to mus-grave. No more Gun-

running across the border, at Hackballs-

cross County Louth.

Mum and Steph are out there protesting

dissenting death. It might take another

generation of inhumanity in humanity.