GAEL COUGHLIN - POEMS

Gael Coughlin is an NYU student living in the Bronx with his partner and pet dog. Born in Claregalway, Ireland, he moved to America to go to school, and is currently in his third year of college, with a double major in literature and psychology. While at college he met his current partner, Aiden, with whom he has been living for close to two years. Due to a car accident, Aiden received damage to his vocal cords, resulting in Coughlin's learning of his third language: ASL (American Sign Language), now trilingual along with English and modern Gaeilge. Being trilingual offers many different ways of communication, but Coughlin has found that writing is still the language that best conveys his thoughts.

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                                         Silence


the broken man lay motionless, crumpled near the bottom of the mountain,
smoke from his long-forgotten cigarette oozing out into the night air.
the atmosphere was tense yet eerily quiet
as if life's conductor had raised his hands to order an uproar of screaming brass
but froze in place
leaving the entire orchestra of life
to remain unnaturally
and chillingly quiet.it was pure suspended insanity,
life void of all components and mechanisms.
the man lay lost and defeated as silence overpowered the mountainside.
 

​                                 Louder than words


last night you came to me
and you cried because
we'll never be a normal couple
all because of you.

other couples
can laugh together
cry together
talk late into the night.

they'll argue
and disagree

other couples
can sing cheesy duets while cooking breakfast
can whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears
can tell each other
I Love You

we have laughed
and cried
we've had conversations that last all night.

we've argued and fought,
you make fun of me for my terrible singing voice
I whisper sweet nothings in your ear

we tell each other
I Love You

not with words
but with something much more meaningful.

we'll never be a normal couple.
that's why I love us so much.

you may not be able to tell me you love me using your voice
but you don't need to.

when you crawl into bed with me at night
when you wrap your arms around me
when you smile at me with that crooked grin of yours.

when you take off your scarf at the end of the day,
for you only need your smile to distract from the scars on your throat.

when you raise your hand, your ring and middle fingers down with the rest of your fingers raised,
and I return the gesture

I know
that we're not like other couples.
we have something that they don't have
something much more than they could ever hope for

for we have something
louder than words.

                                             Rage

a fire deep inside
suppressed
only allowing others to see
the smoke in his lungs