Did the souls of boys,cut down in France,come home again,to rest in lush ditches,by English country lanes,as bright summer poppies, So, each year unending,free to dance once more,joyful remembrance blooms,headless of the rush,of passing motorcars,in home-counties soil, Red now their clothes,heads sway rejoicing,on wildly weaving stalks,stout-hearted amid weeds,no brown wilted youth,inside worn frames, Ebullient life... Continue Reading →
Curvature of Cork,breaking free of static lines,blending ancient bridges,with sharp edged blocks,scraggly trees,and pavement gazing pedestrians. Rushing head long,into the event horizon,when distant melts,will raise the waters,wash out the swamp,for a final time. Pleas will be hurled,prayers incanted,as the great and good,are carried downstream,like petrified timber,ripped from the Gearagh. Concrete and brick crumbles,high tide lines... Continue Reading →
New Triangles. Wear the new triangles, behind the chain-link fences, orchestra of crying children, dread anthem of the summer sun, Separate the little ones, no need to sew the yellow to their shirts, they wear their badge forever, on their skin, Build the wall and mend the wire, with bricks of fear send it higher,... Continue Reading →
Twelve feet above the deck,The smell can make you gag,Five hundred salt water soaked,Unwashed humans in forty degrees, Make a few bad jokes to cover up your shame,That your stomach churned at scabies riddled teenager,Sunglasses will hide guilty eyes,To mask your revulsion, Overcompensate later by giving an extra ration,To a brown-eyed child,Draped from shoulder to... Continue Reading →
On the day in summer when the old man warms his bones,Stretching idle legs on Sean Walsh park benches,Mimicking the patient heron balanced in the water,First one and then the other, pop, ease and crack,The light will be thrown off at an angle, just right. Soft tones glow, wrap warm around the moment,Drawing a long... Continue Reading →
Not Alone in the Silence.Who are you? Called to wake mid-morning light,To face the hurts and hardships of the day,For not alone, we stand against this blight,A multitude of hands unto the fray. Despite those times on immigrants they spat,Raising empty cries or barbed calumnies,Here far from home in distant Gujarat,Nurse they now our stricken... Continue Reading →
In July last year Pat Carroll, drawing on inspiration from the photography of Rob O'Connor created The Silence. This project brought together over forty-five creatives, authors, poets, artists, and photographers to explore their experiences during the first lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was privileged to take part with all these wonderful people below... Claire... Continue Reading →
On the 21st day of September, on the international day of peace, conflicts rage across the planet, people die from twenty cent Czech bullets, five Yuan Chinese machetes, two hundred Ruble Belorussian boots, six hundred Dollar vigilante assault rifles, as well as one hundred and seventy thousand dollar bombs, a response to headlines screaming terror,... Continue Reading →
Alone. In that empty lifejacket,adrift upon the sea,was lost child or brother,borne away so far,to die alone,reduced to a statistic, Meaningless data thrown up,racing endless streams of television,infographic footnotes risk all,carrying dreams,daring tomorrows,out on the waves, Driven by the eternal motion,as the grains all settle back,washing final footprints from the sand,no mother’s tears will wet... Continue Reading →
In the dampness of the low valley,all rows are remarkably dry and kept,a handsome sty from rushy field,brings the wandering foot,to light upon the hard-packed earth. Fingers intertwined,hard grip to hold back,a binding in the throat,of a half-remembered smokey knee,beside the range,memories of the exuberant release of the dark bottled gift,illicit suck of bitter suds,tasting... Continue Reading →
It is a privilege to be part of this incredible 11th Anniversary Edition of Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, Insta: @liveencounterspoetry Twitter: @MagEncounters Thank you very much to Mark Ulyseas, Insta: @markulyseas Twitter: @marculyseas, I really appreciate you having my work included with these fantastic writers and poets. The work which goes into producing these two special... Continue Reading →
The Milky Way over the Fungus Rock, Gozo (Blue)Gilbert Vancell. Defiance.I'll tear a sheet of starlight for your blanket,a burnished cloth of gold to ward off fears,there beneath bright Apollo, you'll greet the morning,curled inside your mother's wounded feet,eyes defiant shimmering flakes of jet,burn away the fog of my appearance,from deep within that ragged bundle,a... Continue Reading →
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