Monday, July 15, 2013

An Interview with Harold Bloom

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Vincent Woods interviewing Harold Bloom for RTE's Arts Tonight. Absorbing listening; Bloom's encyclopedic knowledge of literature is...
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Flesh and Stone

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This painting by Andrea Mantegna was reproduced in our family Bible. As a boy, I used to look at it and marvel. I still marvel.     It i...
Saturday, July 6, 2013

Life is short

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The River Took Me was first published in the Prairie Schooner, Irish Number, December 2011.   The River Took Me   Once, in a sodde...
Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Pub Yap

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First published in THE SHOp Poetry Magazine: Mrs Clancy Mrs Clancy pulling a pint, asking John Quinn about Kate Nealon’s accident t...
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...