Weathered Irish cottage beside winding boreen

The House That Remembers

Introduction to The House That Remembers Some places do not forget. They hold the light of hands that tended flowers, the warmth of fires that burned long into winter evenings, the quiet stories of those who once called them home – even when the doors stand open, and the people have long since gone. This … Continue reading The House That Remembers

Winding rural lane between moss-covered stone walls at sunset

When the Veil Grows Soft

Personal Note: There are a few occasions throughout each year, that what we call ‘the Veil’ grows thin. This is in regards to Irish folklore and this is a veil between the land of what we see and that which we cannot see. For when that grows thin, activity of the supernatural becomes much more … Continue reading When the Veil Grows Soft

Overgrown stone fireplace ruins surrounded by grass and plants in a foggy meadow

The Place That No Longer Exists

Introduction To The Place That No Longer Exists: There are places the eye passes without seeing. A hollow beneath the grass, a broken line beneath the thorn, a patch of ground where nothing appears to remain. The walker moves on, following no path in particular, while the land keeps quietly what once belonged there. A … Continue reading The Place That No Longer Exists

Stone Shed with wooden door and lit lantern during rainfall in forest

The Last Lantern

Introduction to The Last Lantern There are places that hold time like Dust — quiet corners, stone sheds tucked at field edges, where the world slows and softens, and the past lingers, not as a shout, but a hush. This poem walks gently into one such place; an old shed, weathered by rain and years, … Continue reading The Last Lantern

Four friends sitting and laughing under a tree with a heart carving showing J + A

Where First Love Waits

Introduction for Where First Love waits: There are some roads that never truly close behind us – quiet boreens we walked long ago, where the grass still holds the impression of our steps, and sunlight still falls just so on hawthorn and hedge. This poem began in one such place:a summer when I was a … Continue reading Where First Love Waits

Elderly man walking with a cane on a narrow rural road at sunrise

Where Words Wait

Introduction to Where Words Wait Some days the pen feels heavy, the mind crowded, and every line you try to force just slips away like dust on a breeze. This poem comes from one of these days – from stepping out instead, onto the sun-warmed lanes that you know, and learning what the land has … Continue reading Where Words Wait

Two cyclists wearing helmets riding road bikes on a narrow wet country road

The Road Never Forgets

Introduction: About This Poem There are stories we carry for a lifetime, then lose to the fading of memory – names, dates, the exact turn of a phrase. But the land does not forget. It holds every tyre-mark, every footstep, every mile travelled with someone you love. This poem walks the roads that a couple … Continue reading The Road Never Forgets

Ancient stone circle with carved stones on grassy hill at sunrise

An Grá Geal

An Grá Geal (The Bright Love / The True Beloved) Introduction: An Grá Geal Or (The Bright Love / The True Beloved) is written in the ancient tradition of Personifying the land as a beloved – a custom deep in Irish poetry, where Éire, Banba and Fódhla ( names of ancient Gaelic goddesses who have … Continue reading An Grá Geal

Children sitting on logs and benches while an elderly man reads to them outdoors in a forest clearing

The Line Unbroken

Introduction: In every place, there is a thread that runs through time – one that connects those who came before, those who live now, and those who will follow. In Charleville (County Cork), that thread is woven from the land, the river, and the words that survived even when speaking them was dangerous. This Poem … Continue reading The Line Unbroken

Ruins of an old stone Celtic church surrounded by multiple gravestones under a dark cloudy sky

Where My Steps First Began.

I was born on one edge of Charleville and grew up at the southern end of Holy Cross, in Kennedy place. A place that never felt like somewhere I just lived at, but the only true home, I have ever known. This Poem follows the little hill that was like the boundary of Kennedy Place … Continue reading Where My Steps First Began.