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Poem of the Week: “Down” by Brendan Kennelly
why does a poem
always
go
down
the page
like
a shooting
star
Poem of the Week: “Spring Song” by Peter Fallon
It was as if
someone only had to say
Abracadabra
to set alight
the chestnut
Poem of the Week: “Bessboro” by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin
This is what I inherit—
It was never my own life,
But a house’s name I heard
And others heard as warning
Poem of the Week: “At Dublin Zoo” by Paula Meehan
At Dublin Zoo A four-year-old Seeing elephants For the first time ‘But they’re not blue’ –Paula Meehan, from Painting Rain (2009)
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “September” by Conor O’Callaghan
September It must be cliché to think, however brief, that light on a wall and our voices out in the open are the pieces we shall look upon in retrospect as a life. There is a danger of circumstance smothering even the smallest talk. If a breeze shakes another colour from the trees we say…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Ship of Death” by Kerry Hardie
After an unexpected Easter Monday hiatus, we have returned with another poem for National Poetry Month. Ship of Death for my mother Watching you, for the first time, turn to prepare your boat, my mother; making it clear you have other business now— the business of your future— I was washed-through with anger. It was…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Getting Up Early” by Brendan Kennelly
Getting Up Early Getting up early promises well; a milkhorse on the road induces thoughts of a sleeping world and a waking God. This hour has something sacred; bells will be ringing soon, but now I am content to watch the day begin to bloom. I would only waste my breath on poor superfluous words;…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Grainne’s Answer to Burke’s Proposal” by Mary O’Malley
Grainne’s Answer to Burke’s Proposal Take me for one year certain hot and cold and strong. What woman will give you as much for that long? A year in a wild place. Take me or leave me as I am. –Mary O’Malley, from The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry (2011)
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “What Does ‘Early’ Mean?” by Medbh McGuckian
What Does ‘Early’ Mean? Happy house across the road My eighteen-inch deep study of you Is like a chair carried out into the garden, And back again because the grass is wet. Yet I think winter has ended Privately in you, and lies in half-asleep, Of her last sleep, at the foot Of one of…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Hotel” by Medbh McGuckian
Hotel I think the detectable difference between winter and summer is a damsel who requires saving, a heroine half- asleep and measurably able to hear but hard to see, like the spaces between the birds when I turn back to the sky for another empty feeling I would bestow on her a name with a hundred…
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