Home  Poets Friel, Raymond
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Raymond Friel was born in Greenock in 1963. After graduating from Glasgow University he moved to England and qualified as a teacher. His poems have been widely published in reviews and magazines. His collections include Seeing the River (Polygon, 1995), Renfrewshire in Old Photographs (Mariscat, 2000) and most recently Stations of the Heart (Salt, 2008). He co-edited the review Southfields and ran Southfields Press for a number of years. He lives with his wife and three sons in Somerset. He is the headteacher of a secondary school. www.saltpublishing.com
The Flask
Its emergence from some scullery depth
was a harbinger of short-lived summer.
At the beach it was lifted out and set down
replete with strong brew, a sigh from the heart
as the cap came off in my mother’s hand.
My father lit up, cupping the flame
for them both like a grown-up secret,
shooed us boys away to the water’s edge.
When the high tide had toppled our towers,
the dregs were poured into sandy ground.
Then, the allurement of the interior:
all foil and reflection, fantastic light,
no trace at all of its turbid contents,
like looking into a soul, shriven and free.
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