Out of Tune
No fingers now draw from it chords That it once formed, each one like words Now only insects and birds Dwell among …
I Shall Prepare a Feast For Thousands… And Yet Never Grease a Pan
A humersome yet morbid ghazal, for Halloween!!! All in the world around you is dead Or to you it appears to be …
Earth Gives Healing
In times before corporations Shareholders and their greed Earth gave healing to humankind Harnessed by understanding, according to need. From painkilling properties …
Breaching the Veil
Death creeps like a shadow and darkens our lives… In time the truth we see The shadow is cast by the unseen …
The Pearly Gates
I I was talking to a widow And she was telling the tale to me About one night in the moonlight Her …
“What We Leave Behind” — R.I.P. Sarah Lundberg of Seven Towers
Just heard of the passing of the Dublin writer and publisher Sarah Lundberg. She ran the Seven Towers publishing house and ran …
Irish Family Funerals
Last Patricks Day, everyone else went to the parade dressed in green. Not us. We are Cartys We are from Longford. We …
Elegy – Sweet Afton
It was just another brand Just another cigarette Nothing of which to be proud Or noteworthy, but yet To those who with …
Kid in a Cart in Kosovo
This poem is a few years old. To this day, there are still Roma, Egyptian and Ashkali families in lead polluted homes, …
Woe to the Conquerer
Faith and flag displayed, crimson flowed, Vanquished, the foe is fallen, subdued The conqueror to Regent and God dedicates This lands, these …
I Stood And Watched
I stood and watched by a lake Birds fly overhead A lone swallow took a swoop Over graves of the dead Who …
Our Lady of Clonfert, Bless Both Boston and the World
As Boston comes to terms with its tragedy, we pray to Mary who is venerated in both the Islamic and the Christian …
Lovers of Valdaro
As in life, in death, they lie, embraced In the Eternal Cloak of the cold cold ground The warm bonds of an …
Death on a Traintrack
A stopped train, and I awaken In the middle of some godforsaken Piece of country, as an announcement is making By some …
A Phonecall Overheard
A double suicide delayed by train back to Dublin after the Poets Express event in 2010. The pointlessness of it inspired the …
The Shepherd, the Wolf, The Ewe, and the Lamb
This story, while a moral tale in its own right, is based on the tragic tale of Savita Halappanavar, the woman who …
From the Womb She Speaks
Abortion promotes women’s rights we are told – forgetting that at least half the victims of abortion are female, even more where …
Samhain – Celtic New Year
From the other side they come To look after those that to them are dear The Spirits from the Otherworld At the …
Murder of a Worm in Scotland
I saw the murder of a worm On a sunny morning as I did yawn And a bird, probably a blackbird Committed …
An Cailín Bocht Marbh
An dán seo as Bearla Áileann a bhí a h-aghaidh, Agus dathúil soiléir a bhí a tón, Bhí airgead go leor ina …