New Irish Writing: Gethsemane by Michael Gilligan
Our short story selection for May 2026
Illustration for New Irish Writing by Milly Glynn
Michael Gilligan
30 May 2026 5:30 AM
Each year, on the same date for over a decade, Brid returned to the gallery. It was her wedding anniversary – not of her current marriage but of another one, years earlier, to a man who had since passed from her life. When the anniversary fell on a weekday no excuse was needed. She would take her lunch from the office and spend an hour on the bench if it was free. Or if not, stroll the room, offering a casual glance at the other paintings, but with long stares imbibe the work which brought her back, in her ritualistic manner, year after year. Today being a Saturday, she had simply suggested to Brendan that they visit the gallery. With seeming indifference, her proposal had been accepted. When she suggested they reunite in the lobby at closing time, that had been accepted too.
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