A portfolio of poetry by Rory Finnegan
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Dream Vaccination

7/31/2020

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At night, wandering the lucid halls 
of the mind, I choose to vacation in the past. 
The only time to meet again
the people I met long ago -- 
somehow, the dream-mind remembers.
There, the thin-legged boy from a long day 
at a waterpark in Puerto Rico.
And there, the once-best friend 
who collected ticket stubs 
and pressed them into books to return to.
Once or twice, a cameo 
by the man with the smoky breath who liked
kissing on the dorm couch with all the lights on.
Often, a young version of myself -- wild curly hair and baby teeth,
a lust for understanding every living thing -- the tall black
birds lurking on the roof, the ladybugs crowding
in the corners of window frames. 
Sometimes, my mind takes me to you 
at 20, unaware and at ease, our love humming in the air.
At night, I remember you like this: a character to fall
in love with over and over again, one I haven’t
already left behind.
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Reading Plath in Kips Bay

7/16/2020

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“I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest”  
​
- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

 
Is anybody still
reading these days? More than one
hundred nights later, we’ve built lives among pages
to keep loneliness at bay. 
 
I am, I am - 
reading that is, Plath opening
between my knees. 
A constant through the years,
we grow more in step as I get closer to her 
last birthday.
 
My own Mademoiselle summer 
escaping memory - 
I was supposed to be 
having the time of my life. 

I remember what it felt like to set 
eyes on a future lover in Kips Bay. 
And the feeling much
later, of knowing I’d never see him again. 
 
New York: this is the place an arrow shoots from. 
If I love him, Plath promises 
I’ll love somebody else someday.
I am not ready to lose all the rest.
 
She danced in these streets, 
waltzing home every night
to the Barbizon Hotel. 
She was supposed to be having
the time of her life.
 
I am lying in the grass in Central Park,
miles and miles and miles of it,
6 feet apart, but it feels like so much 
farther.
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Bi-Weekly Horoscope for Libra

7/10/2020

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It begins with something backward; desire 
affecting self-esteem, indulgence tempering 
rational thought. Do you remember 
the way he looked at you through the dark? 

You will feel as though you are shrinking, deliciously, 
flying back in time, your body thinning, 
milkteeth chattering back in.
You didn’t always used to be so cold. Did you 
know he has always been cold? Taller men
are more likely to have Raynauds, fingers
whitening outdoors and at night.
Some areas of the body will feel numb, 
you should know. Your perfume will
keep you awake, and you will be able
to keep moving forward.
Your memory will be foggy and it will allow you
to kiss him. You should avoid going further, for everybody’s
sake. Do you even really know him?
An individual in crisis is still just an individual.
If you do want him, then certainly he will not want you. 
Such is the way of nature,
penalizing what’s forbidden with the ebbs and flows of lust and love.
Do you remember? Beware the skipping in your chest.
You know in all likelihood you will hold him there too long.​
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    Who am I?

    I'm Rory - UVA poetry grad working in the business world but trying to keep my love for writing alive.

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    Previous projects:
    2013 Photography Project
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    2014 Poetry Project
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    2015 Alternate Project
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