Blog

A Golden Balloon # The Web of Life

Balmy the evening
A golden balloon
Salt water lapping
Against the pontoon
Man’s great creations
Can force us to kneel
Yet spider’s fine silk
Is stronger than steel
Plough your own furrow
And don’t talk too loud
The leading sled dog
Has it’s back to the crowd
We visited Sweny’s
Of Ulysses fame
A man told a story
And I did the same
On James Joyce’s plinth
We sat for our lunch
Beshoff’s hot chips
Providing our munch
June breezes balmy
But one week to go
A neat ribboned boreen
Rolls down to Reenroe
A red penny sinks
’tis magic I’ll say
Sunsets from heaven
Our own Galway bay.

I’ll be off…sláinte !

Blog

Colm Horkan # Jean Kennedy Smith

Guard Colm Horkan
May you rest in peace
Our thoughts are all with you
Your smile shall not cease
Cattle are lowing
By hushed Celtic sea
While moon daises sway
Seducing the bees
Bean as Eireann
Jean Kennedy Smith
A dove and a patriot
No seller of myth
Buttercup yellow
On soft dimpled chin
Hands clasped together
Where old weavers spin
Angels are circling
Their seeds for to sow
In Creeslough and Doolin
And Gap of Dunloe
It’s midsummer’s day
And Sandycove twinkles
Barnacle, glasses
Sweet periwinkles
The Muglins looks skyward
Towards Dalkey hill
Vico enchanting
Beside her blue spill.

Bye now..sláinte.

Blog

Bloomsday # Vera Lynn

Adverts for Joy Ale
On Dublin’s trams
Clicking high heels
Spring sprong black prams
Seabirds are diving
Ten thousand stuffed gullets
Streaks of white bubbles
Torpedo-like bullets
Lets rock to the Goldie
For a few sunshine jars
Tell Fratser and Readers
We’ll go in my car
Bloomsday today
And all are on Zoom
Ineluctable modals
Always the moon
Along the white sands
And on heaven’s cloth
Among the low dunes
A sweet burnet moth
In brief showers of gold dust
The coltsfoot appears
A cure for Corona?
To dry all our tears
Dame Vera Lynn
Has passed away
Yes we’ll meet again
Some Sunny Day.

See you soon..sláinte.

Blog

Tony Bennett # Lizzy

We saw Tony Bennett
One night at The Street
Dublin was Frisco
We digged his swing beat
Philo and Lizzy
At Dalymount Park
Dublin beat Kerry
We sang until dark
Thespian dreamer
Quill and silk scarf
Sketches of Kingstown
Howth and Clontarf
Some made their homes
In lofty round towers
One busker alone
Sang Come to the Bower
This island of ours
I’m under a spell
The west coast is haunting
Just bliss you can tell
There’s no climate change
There shall be no loss ?
And folks from Deliverance
Still love to floss
The bold queen of Sheba
She wouldn’t ban guns
She had a whole arsenal
Bought from the nuns.

Talk soon…Sláinte.

Blog

Rory Gallagher # Fionnula Flanagan

A faithful one flew
From Birr to Kilcormac
A brace on the hoof
In windswept Portmarnock
I peered at the twelve Bens
My vision was grainy
As Sven of the Vikings
Sailed up the Slaney
Twenty five years
Since Rory G died
We all sang the blues
We prayed and we cried
A flower in summer
Was young Annie Moore
The pride of all Ireland
The first through the door
A man in his haven
Last man on Lough Ree
From elver to sunsets
Great sights did he see
White horses gallop
To Lahinch and its links
I once chewed the cud
With a boxer called Spinks
We met with Fionnula
No actor was better
She read all my poems
And sent me a letter.

Back soon…Sláinte!

Blog

Omaha # Curracloe Beach

By Omaha Beach
I passed in the rain
Odysseus wandering
Through old country lanes
Sweet Molly Malone
Wheeling her cart
Her maker has joined her
The bold Jeanne Rynhart
Near Corcomroe
Small choristers sing
While gentians gaily
Bow to a king
An old man stood feeding
The white swans today
As Avoca’s famed waters
Waved on their way
Black shawled the ladies
Of inclement weather
Bent by the turf fire
Knitting with feathers
Our brave mighty Sea God
Manánnán Mac Lír
Rides the wide ocean
Showing no fear
Protect us from covid
Protect us from pain
Save every lost soul
Till we meet again.

Back soon…sláinte !

Blog

Charlie Chaplin’s Daughter & Setanta.

Another star vanished
Steve Priest from the Sweet
The people are angry
They take to the street
Brefni’s round hills
Her lakes of deep blue
The joys of the day
Bring on different hues
I sailed on the Gulf
On a catamaran
Sipped with a Chaplin
She smoked a Gitanes
Sliabh Gullion still bears
The prints of Setanta
Honest Ard Mhacha
Go h áillainn , galánta
He waved us good bye
While closing his book
And all through the Cosmos
He sang Hucklebuck
Zozimus sang
Such was his duty
When folks of the west
Wore leather pampooties
Most victims are old
Yet all sons and daughters
Corona just slays them
Like lambs to the slaughter
Buck Mulligan gazed
At the snot-green sea
Then washed breakfast down
With timely brewed tea.

Bye for now…sláinte !

Blog

Coole Park # Cronus.

Flying o’er the coastline
I glance Skibbereen
A fairytale vision
Midst pillows of green
Great Norman castles
They tumble and fall
Yet poems still echo
From stairs keep and hall
St Vincent stands bravely
On Merrion road
With hosts of lieutenants
To lighten our load
A ‘torc’ running through
Oak woods wild and free
Swans at Coole Park
And sweet Ballylee
O’Casey and Shaw
And Millington Synge
Each carved their names
When all was in Spring
Fabulous willows
Waltz to a song
Joined by the rushes
And lovely Maud Gonne
Our High King once held
A court at Kincora
Deep thoughts on the breeze
With fauna and flora
In fields of west Mayo
Above a deep sea
New crops were planted
For Cronus to see.

Stay safe…!

Blog

Bog Bodies Harpers and George Floyd.

An ancient oak road
By church of Saint Mel
As Camlin’s own choirs
Rejoice with the bells
Bodies exhumed
Disinterred from ‘Na Mona’
People predating
This foul corona
Ritual murders
Deep in the bog
Preserved in black peat
For students to log
I cannot breath air
Said helpless George Floyd
Cowardice and hatred
All mercy devoid
The first day of June
On Dun Laoire Pier
Glorious sunshine
With ones I hold dear
Softly the warm wind
Carries her song
Rippling the waters
Of gallant Lough Cong
I soared o’er the Curragh
Once in a dream
With harpers in tandem
Plucking sunbeams
Beds of pearl oysters
At Carlingford
Rivalling those
In a western fjord
A maiden from Rush
She sang A cappella
Oodles of notes
Beneath her umbrella !

Tomorrow Tomorrow…..

Blog

Bog Bodies Harpers and George Floyd.

An ancient oak road
By church of Saint Mel
As Camlin’s own choirs
Rejoice with the bells
Bodies exhumed
Disinterred from ‘Na Mona’
People predating
This foul corona
Ritual murders
Deep in the bog
Preserved in black peat
For students to log
I cannot breath air
Said helpless George Floyd
Cowardice and hatred
All mercy devoid
The first day of June
On Dun Laoire Pier
Glorious sunshine
With with ones I hold dear
Softly the warm wind
Carries her song
Rippling the waters
Of gallant Lough Cong
I soared o’er the Curragh
Once in a dream
With harpers in tandem
Plucking sunbeams
Beds of pearl oysters
At Carlingford
Rivalling those
In a western fjord
A maiden from Rush
She sang A cappella
Oodles of notes
Beneath her umbrella !

Tomorrow Tomorrow…..