Friday, June 28, 2013

Billy Collins Makes You Want to Write a Poem

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This TED talk by Billy Collins is essential viewing for poets who are drying up, school-goers who need to be convinced that poetry means any...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Jesus The Aviator

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Jesus the fighter pilot has served in Iraq and Afghanistan: 6,000 flight hours; 1,800 combat hours.   Described as cool-headed, agg...
Monday, June 24, 2013

A Visual Jolt

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Sometimes an   unexpected glimpse trips a mental switch that triggers  understanding. It maybe the shock that jolts clarity, or maybe the n...
Tuesday, June 18, 2013

My Úna Bhán

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One of the great Irish love songs love songs was written by Tomás Láidir Mac Coisdealbha (fl.1660s) from Moylurg, Boyle. It will feature...
Thursday, June 13, 2013

The eyes have it

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    These images by Lucas Cranach the Elder are very arresting. Despite being 600 years old there’s something very fresh and imme...
Monday, June 10, 2013

Trees like..........................

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Elaine Leigh's painting brought another painting to mind, and so this poem. What The Artist Sees:     these trees like th...
Thursday, June 6, 2013

Those Marches

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  When  they play those marches and the drums tip away,   I think of Brendan alone in his sitting room, flicking channels...
Wednesday, May 29, 2013

What the camera saw

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They often  tell lies, but sometimes the camera catches a moment of truth. This isn't a classic poem but it catches a poignant moment. ...
Saturday, May 25, 2013

You Crying

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  Your crying: The silver streams Of your eyes, The radiant red cheeks, The choking on words, The gullish.   Some...
Thursday, May 23, 2013

A little goes a long way

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I have over the years come across some examples of very little making the difference between life and death. In caring for the elderly, some...
Monday, May 20, 2013

Almost Summer

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The lengthening days and the anticipation of sunny weather are part of what makes May special, but in rural parts there are more subtle trig...
Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Early Mornings of the Early Days of Parenthood

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I've just discovered this poem from years ago. Roaring.   Every morning I balloon out of bed, bank around the corners i...
Thursday, May 9, 2013

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The world breaks, people disperse in ant-burst fashion. A piano-maker brimful of strings,                     hammers            ...
Wednesday, May 8, 2013

RS Thomas reading The Bright Field

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Accessible, moving, spiritual, relevant, profound are very complimentary words when applied to poetry. All of them apply to the poetry o...
Saturday, May 4, 2013

Read it loud, a verbal upper

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There is no poetry to match Whitman’s for exultation; he sings a body electric. Like a river in spate, there is an awesome energy in the...