Poetry

Poetry is an odd pastime. Some poems hit like lightning. Others come down the valley like a glacier, slow and grinding, and take years to arrive. Either way, they want out.

I served twenty-five years in the Irish Naval Service, fourteen of them at sea, including rescue missions in the Mediterranean. Much of this work starts there: the sea, the people taken from it, the ports, and the long watches. The rest comes from home, from Mayo boreens and Cork Harbour.

Published in
The Boston Globe (USA) · Tinteán (Australia) · Live Encounters · Black Bough Poetry · A New Ulster · Bangor Literary Journal · The Silence Anthology · Rantology: Lest We Rest on Our Laurels · Poetry Jukebox · The Cobh Chronicle

Forthcoming
The Middle Sea, poems from the Mediterranean, is nearing completion and will soon be seeking publishers. A second collection, rooted in Cork Harbour and Mayo, is in development.

All poems

Published poems appear here with a link to where they first ran. Newest first.

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Follow new poems on Bluesky: @paperneverrefusedink.com