CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry
(including haiku
and spoken word),
visual art,
photography,
play,
and fiction
submission opportunities.
Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.
January 15th, 2026
Dublin Poetry Contest #2 – First Place
by Maria Beville
The footpath is dappled grey –
Chewing gum blobs and excrement.
Pigeons, in their hundreds, surround me,
Their flight, like waves crashing.
I strain my neck
As they dance and circle
And land softly with wings outstretched like angels.
In the concrete square, I am a lone tree.
Claws grip my hair.
Beaks peck.
My seeds fall to the ground.
Rushing water in the fountain
Nourishes me.
Traffic, voices, wings, water,
Whisper the story of this tall, grey city.
The escalator is the tallest thing here.
Taller than Nelson.
Glossy posters whizz by.
I grip the rail as I go down
Layers deep beneath the earth
And turn my face to the warm ulterior breeze.
Above, my essence travels with the birds,
Is scattered and sown on rooftops, in gutters
My little saplings will emerge in the sky garden
Rooted in tiny crevices.
I will thrive in these abandoned spaces
And spread my leafy branches.
This is my green city
Up high where nobody sees
And deep below where the earth tremors.
About the Poet
Maria Beville resides in Sixmilebridge, Clare, Ireland.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Maria Beville's Artist Page.
This poem is also featured in Comet #7, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Keywords: london, hidden nature, cities and belonging, metropolis, transfiguration
Previously published in Dublin Poetry Magazine:
The Lost Continent of Atlantis
by Dean Monaghan
Dublin Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
- AI Training on this website is not permitted.
(Advertisements)