Johnny Cash -Hurt

When you lose someone

For Deirdre

Faye said
How beautiful, from a story-teller who paints with words =). 

Barbara said

" I know Deirdre will love it.  She has just been widowed and I know your book will bring her much joy.She is such a lovely soul.  They came to Dublin from NI many years ago due to the economics there, and started again from nothing, raising the children in the south.   Losing Eddie has been a hard blow for her and I know your poems will lift her."

Deirdre said

" What a lovely surprise I got this morning.  Thank you!!  My house is full of family at the moment, a gathering for a family wedding up in Donegal.  I want to sit down and really read your lovely evocative book.  From a quick perusal i was able to get a wonderful sense of place, the sights and sounds, I could even feel the tickle of the straw!! "

Death of a President

22 November 1963

Friday evening, that time when
Tea was out and father was in
And the coal fire cracked
And the ash wood spat
And the flames danced
in the hearth of that living room.

Lost Boyhood

The Turf stack stood beyond the midden by the byre

The last track that led to the Rock Heads

To the straw-bed sheep shed snug in the worst of Winter

To the muddied gate cracked-dry surface in Summer

To the last outpost of boyhood

Poetry in pubs Your FEEDBACK

And I dreamt,

" As with your previous poems, this really conveys strong images of childhood and of the natural world. I love the way your poems seem to draw the reader in straight away – the imagery you use is very powerful and I could really imagine being there. I particularly liked the description of the sheep, the ‘keepers of the mountain’ - their lively characters contrasting well with the harsh image of the dead crows in the next.

The description of the blue bottle in the last verse, desperate to escape, is great and emphasises the peace and stillness of the room really well. I really like the way your writing conveys meaning so effectively and conjures up such strong imagery! "

" I really enjoy your poems - they have the magic of childhood and their particular time and place. We all have different experiences of childhood but your poems make the memories live for people who have not experienced them.

... I enjoyed your alliteration - those crows and the sheep. I like the way (think it called 'personification') you describe the sheep as 'keepers of the mountain'. I like the unexpected ways you use words, 'tidy death of flies', 'sunday afternoon sleeping uncles', 'sun spilled, living room'. Lots of visual and sound imagery.

" What can I say - a dreamy long lost time and I wish I could have been there, it sounds so wonderful and warm. The only thing missing is hearing it with the proper accent."

Home Coming Part 1

The waterfall cascades over the cliff from its source in the mountains, from whence it came.  The house below, doll-life is our youth, our innocence.

The memories of my childhood came flooding back during a recent trip to the townland where I was born, Shanemullagh.  I returned to the roads and routes I used to roam as a youngster.