Shortly
the years will turn homeward,
their promises
still tight in their fists.
Endless corridors
leading nowhere,
crammed with people
all tumbling on.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Damp and Drizzle.
Damp wet, wet, wet.
Grim drizzle
Leaning against the wall
All day.
If I could hum the mood
Into your ear
You'd know what I mean;
You'd remember.
Grim drizzle
Leaning against the wall
All day.
If I could hum the mood
Into your ear
You'd know what I mean;
You'd remember.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Apparitions
Good Friday and Christmas Night; my religious belief was so strong that I expected something to happen. I expected the word to become, if not flesh, spectre. In driving homecatholic beliefs, we were made more aware of the personalities than the teachings. The gospel stories were vivid in our minds and almost on equal billing were the Lourdes and Fatima apparitions. There was always the threat of divine intervention: punishments at worst, but at the very least, dire warnings complete with revolving spectral solar displays.
The significance of these two days in particular, the sorry state of the world - the treat of a third world war was palpablein the Cold War years of the sixties, I remember a Christian Brother telling us in 1967 that we probably wouldn’t survive the year – made an apparition a fairly likely occurrence. Our upbringing was strongly religious, that put me on the front line for a visitation.
The Dread of an Apparition
The most effective means
of avoiding a death fright
by apparition
might have been my blanket
but for the thinness of its cover
and the need to obey
Heaven's commands
which do not stop at blankets.
The problem was Mary's
predilection for teens
and my undoubted piety.
Therefore I can say
without any hesitation,
my earliest plans to reject
Catholicism - thereby
putting myselfsafely
beyond the fence -
were due to apparitions;
their lightning
and ghastly messages.
The significance of these two days in particular, the sorry state of the world - the treat of a third world war was palpablein the Cold War years of the sixties, I remember a Christian Brother telling us in 1967 that we probably wouldn’t survive the year – made an apparition a fairly likely occurrence. Our upbringing was strongly religious, that put me on the front line for a visitation.
The Dread of an Apparition
The most effective means
of avoiding a death fright
by apparition
might have been my blanket
but for the thinness of its cover
and the need to obey
Heaven's commands
which do not stop at blankets.
The problem was Mary's
predilection for teens
and my undoubted piety.
Therefore I can say
without any hesitation,
my earliest plans to reject
Catholicism - thereby
putting myselfsafely
beyond the fence -
were due to apparitions;
their lightning
and ghastly messages.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Revisiting Lough Ree
Morning comes colourless;
trees stoop to the lake like pilgrims
witnessing images that are riddles in the water.
A sudden shriek: “Over here, no here, over here.”
I see nothing; the lake keeps its children chilled
in ice buckets among the reeds.
Once I trailed a ripple from a boat
that beveled this water. I’ll remember the oars’
loud soft thud, slap, lick till I die.
It was June. Insects teemed on the surface.
The sun, that tanned our backs, lulled the countryside
into sleep before the fields were even cranked.
My father was there.
Now December.The lake drags its cutlery
through this cress-green landscape
with an indifference that leaves memories shivering.
trees stoop to the lake like pilgrims
witnessing images that are riddles in the water.
A sudden shriek: “Over here, no here, over here.”
I see nothing; the lake keeps its children chilled
in ice buckets among the reeds.
Once I trailed a ripple from a boat
that beveled this water. I’ll remember the oars’
loud soft thud, slap, lick till I die.
It was June. Insects teemed on the surface.
The sun, that tanned our backs, lulled the countryside
into sleep before the fields were even cranked.
My father was there.
Now December.The lake drags its cutlery
through this cress-green landscape
with an indifference that leaves memories shivering.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Dayroom
A scene from 40 yars ago.
Dayroom
Here the old men sat,
hunched against the wall,
replaying the footage of their lives
in the half-light of the dayroom.
A beam of sunlight slants through the window,
the projection playing dead centre of the room
as though not only heat
but life itself was somewhere far away.
Dayroom
Here the old men sat,
hunched against the wall,
replaying the footage of their lives
in the half-light of the dayroom.
A beam of sunlight slants through the window,
the projection playing dead centre of the room
as though not only heat
but life itself was somewhere far away.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Something Beautiful - 3epkano
3epkano are a Dublin-based collective who compose sountracks “to silent, avant-garde, and temporary cinema”; they perform their scores live, and in venues that range from the main Electric Picnic stage to the National Gallery of Ireland. At home and abroad they are creating waves and deservedly.
Now and then over the years I have recommended music that can put you in the mood to write poetry; this does. The music is haunting, moving, simply beautiful. Creating soundscapes, dreamscapes you can move around in; spacey enough to find your own private place, moody enough to drown a little.
They started out in 2004 and have made three albums; the most recent released in Oct 2011; Hans the Reluctant Wolf Juggler – “What really marks this record out is the startling nature and force of musicianship.” Tony Clayton-Lea, Irish Times.
I have yet to catch them live, but I won't leave it much longer. Listen to the track below and you'll understand. Meanwhile the website is http://www.3epkanomusic.com/ go check it out.
Now and then over the years I have recommended music that can put you in the mood to write poetry; this does. The music is haunting, moving, simply beautiful. Creating soundscapes, dreamscapes you can move around in; spacey enough to find your own private place, moody enough to drown a little.
They started out in 2004 and have made three albums; the most recent released in Oct 2011; Hans the Reluctant Wolf Juggler – “What really marks this record out is the startling nature and force of musicianship.” Tony Clayton-Lea, Irish Times.
I have yet to catch them live, but I won't leave it much longer. Listen to the track below and you'll understand. Meanwhile the website is http://www.3epkanomusic.com/ go check it out.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Rathmines Writers Workshop Reading
3.00pm this Saturday 24th Mar, as part of Rathmines Community Clubs and Soc's Day, writers from the Rathmines Writers Workshop will read from their own work. The event is taking place in the Town Hall, Rathmines and admission is free.
Also worth mentioning that there is an opportunity to play chess courtesy of Rathmines Chess Club.
So what else are you doing Saturday.
Also worth mentioning that there is an opportunity to play chess courtesy of Rathmines Chess Club.
So what else are you doing Saturday.
Monday, March 19, 2012
What is poetry
Reading through various answers to this question, and recognizing there are no forms that define poetry, I have opted for a basic statement:
Poetry is a composition of words corralled together in such a way as to magnify its impact beyond what would be achievable in a similar sized body of prose or in everyday parlance.
Poetry is a composition of words corralled together in such a way as to magnify its impact beyond what would be achievable in a similar sized body of prose or in everyday parlance.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
18 Everyday English Words That Come from Irish
[For St Patrick's Day,a list with a few surprises. http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2012/18-everyday-english-words-that-come-from-irish/ Thanks to Emma Taylor.]
This poem came from viewing Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy. The desert around is totally dead.Without scale, and alone in your position beneath the Milky Way, you maybe be as big or as small as you wish to be.
That said, the picture reminds me of the night I slept outdoors on Inis Mór.Many years ago (too many to admit to). In the middle of the night I woke up; there was a donkey's face within 6 inches of mine. Do you have any idea How big a donkey's head is?
The other memorable detail from that same weekend was a girl wading in the shallows playing with a dogfish. She was putting her palm under it and throwing it maybe 6 foot away, and it was coming back again and again like a dog chasing a ball. I wouldn't have thought it likely.
Dream
The desert has
no wings
to ruffle the air
nor insect
to displace a sand grain
nor throat
to crease the silence.
The desert is
a platform
on which I stand,
and am
as I dream:
atom or planet,
as colossal, as minute.
This poem came from viewing Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy. The desert around is totally dead.Without scale, and alone in your position beneath the Milky Way, you maybe be as big or as small as you wish to be.
That said, the picture reminds me of the night I slept outdoors on Inis Mór.Many years ago (too many to admit to). In the middle of the night I woke up; there was a donkey's face within 6 inches of mine. Do you have any idea How big a donkey's head is?
The other memorable detail from that same weekend was a girl wading in the shallows playing with a dogfish. She was putting her palm under it and throwing it maybe 6 foot away, and it was coming back again and again like a dog chasing a ball. I wouldn't have thought it likely.
Dream
The desert has
no wings
to ruffle the air
nor insect
to displace a sand grain
nor throat
to crease the silence.
The desert is
a platform
on which I stand,
and am
as I dream:
atom or planet,
as colossal, as minute.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Rathmines Community Clubs n Soc's Day
A new departure in this part of town and maybe the first of many: Rathmines Community Clubs n Soc's Day, Saturday, 24th March from 12:00 until 17:00 in Rathmines Town Hall.
This is a free event which presents the community in the Rathmines area with an opportunity to meet members from a variety of organisations (clubs, societies, volunteering organisations and community groups)active in their locality, to get information on activities, events and membership.
So grab the opportunity to become more active, part of what's happening. The day is being organised by Cultural and Corporate Project Management students in Rathmines College.
See you there.
Michael
Swan Fashion Show in aid of Our Lady's Hospice and Care Services
A cause worth supporting. The Swan Fashion Show in aid of Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services will take place at 8.45pm on Tuesday 27th March in the Swan Centre, Rathmines.
The show, which is being organised by Rathmines College in association with the Swan Centre, promises to be a very enjoyable night out with audience having the option of arriving in 20’s style clothing,(spot prizes for the best), and for a paltry €20 (VIP)having a few glasses of wine too.
Tickets cost €10 and €20 and can be bought at The Candy Bar in the Swan Centre from Fri 16th March. Doors for VIPs 8.20pm.
Email: rathminesccpm@gmail.com
Saturday, March 10, 2012
November Leaf
The maple leaf had all the colours I wish you.
A parchment clinging to a web of veins,
a fallen star lying on the path by the river,
somehow it seemed right.
The greatest beauty is the fragile beauty,
that’s what I thought of you;
with the blue barely clinging to your irises,
your smiles precarious as November leaves.
A parchment clinging to a web of veins,
a fallen star lying on the path by the river,
somehow it seemed right.
The greatest beauty is the fragile beauty,
that’s what I thought of you;
with the blue barely clinging to your irises,
your smiles precarious as November leaves.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Trap
I was in a hawthorn,
trapped in its branches;
all arms, hands and fingers
prevailing on me not to struggle.
I was an exhibit in a jar
ragged and shock-eyed,
praying for a passer-by
where ravens perch still for hours.
I was a storm-blown tatter
caught in another’s stitching;
my cries drifting into the sky
nonchalant like dandelion seeds.
(from Turn Your Head)
trapped in its branches;
all arms, hands and fingers
prevailing on me not to struggle.
I was an exhibit in a jar
ragged and shock-eyed,
praying for a passer-by
where ravens perch still for hours.
I was a storm-blown tatter
caught in another’s stitching;
my cries drifting into the sky
nonchalant like dandelion seeds.
(from Turn Your Head)
Friday, March 2, 2012
Banned Books
A selection of paintings from “We Exercise The Power” is currently on display in Rathmines Library. The exhibition has been travelling around various libraries countrywide since last August.
It’s an unusual project, “100 watercolour paintings of 100 books by 100 author's who have at one time or another been banned in Ireland throughout the last century.” John Jones is the artist, and you can read about and see the paintings at http://johnjonesartist.blogspot.com/
We know Ireland has seen some enthusiastic censors in its time, particularly where books offended Catholic sensibilities, but still the list makes surprising reading and includes Gulliver’s Travels, Molloy by Samuel Beckett, Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye, John Updike’s Rabbit,Run and many others. That’s a taster, have a look yourself.
This prompted me to look a bit wider. A list of books that have been (at some time) banned internationally includes pearls such as, Candide by Voltaire (USA), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (South Africa), Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Soviet Union), Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (Canada), Ulysses by James Joyce (UK, USA, Austrailia), The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank (Lebanon), The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (USA).
It’s an unusual project, “100 watercolour paintings of 100 books by 100 author's who have at one time or another been banned in Ireland throughout the last century.” John Jones is the artist, and you can read about and see the paintings at http://johnjonesartist.blogspot.com/
We know Ireland has seen some enthusiastic censors in its time, particularly where books offended Catholic sensibilities, but still the list makes surprising reading and includes Gulliver’s Travels, Molloy by Samuel Beckett, Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye, John Updike’s Rabbit,Run and many others. That’s a taster, have a look yourself.
This prompted me to look a bit wider. A list of books that have been (at some time) banned internationally includes pearls such as, Candide by Voltaire (USA), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (South Africa), Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Soviet Union), Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (Canada), Ulysses by James Joyce (UK, USA, Austrailia), The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank (Lebanon), The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (USA).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)