Categories
Issue 2 Poetry

30.26.9

I was very happy to attend a meeting of the Writers Guild and hear feedback for my piece. I was grateful to hear honest feedback from other writers on ways to improve my poem. I didn’t take every suggestion that was given but I did take most of them. The major changes were structural, making sure my punctuation and line breaks were consistent throughout the poem. I feel that what I submitted to the Orange Couch was a much more solid piece of writing than the first draft I had workshopped by fellow writers.

August 3rd, our wedding
Dayton Ohio
a precious, special day
destroyed by our nation’s obsession
a note under the door

“…the hotel is on lockdown…
…mass shooting downtown…”

30 seconds of shooting
26 people shot
9 of them dead

i puked green bile
we made our calls
make sure our party is ok

We inaugurated our marriage in blood
under the scars and stripes
with my hand over my heart
i vow to not lose sight

there’s a secret inside my wife
he’s two months along
30.26.9
come on man, stay strong

our honeymoon is surreal
a juxtaposition of bliss/
terror/
hesitant joy…

the US is actually beautiful
road tripped from LA
to Joshua Tree and beyond
the infinite desert sky

i pray on my knees 
to the milky-way
thank you God for this borrowed life

“there’s a sleeping hope inside us,
just waiting to be released.”
the words are a gift
my hand writes what my mind receives  

there is Power in words
ingrained in mental stone
complacency is not an option
let my voice be known

30.26.9
30.26.9
30.26.9

My name is Marty McCahill and I live in Chicago with my wife and one-year-old son.  I’m a graduating senior at DePaul and will begin Grad school at DePaul in the fall of 2021. I mostly write creative non-fiction or biographical fiction in the form of song, poetry, and short story.