Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Irish Curse

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The Irish language is famous, from bardic times, for its curses; a poor host  got a verbal flaying. Likewise praise can be most eloquent an ...
Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dylan Thomas Reading "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London "

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What an amazing resource the Poetry Archive is! Here Dylan Thomas introduces his poetry in that high-blown way that was the fashion. At the ...
Monday, July 22, 2013

The Day Room

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  This is where the old men sit, sacks of coal against a wall; time to dream and all their dreams defunct. A slant of sunlight t...
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. ...