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Naimh and JackAre going to the BlasketFamous island off the Kerry coastTwo month stint as caretakers the contractIsland dwellers guest receiving host Even now arrivingThey are thinkingAbout the day when they will have to leaveSo beautiful the island and its prospectTo say goodbye they know will make them grieve Reminded me of people on theContinue reading “Fair Isle And Ferries”

Robert Lloyd PraegerIrish naturalistWalking IrelandWalked his way through Erris He trekked the Bangor TrailThat blanket bogFrom NewportThe cattle drovers roadHe wrote aboutThis lonely wildernessHow it throws you backYet hurls you forth The bleak terrainCan see you lose you wayLose your lifeIf unprepared to goSlieve CarrThe loneliest mountainBy farThe OwenduffA trackless bog below He called hisContinue reading “The Way That You Went”

My father’s sense of humourTickled me just like it tickled himSo here we go: A bloke fell ill unconscious in his houseTaken away to hospital for careWakes up next day quiet as a mouseAsks the chap next bed the why and where His question bluntHave I come here to die?A cockney voice chips upNo mateYouContinue reading “Aw Right?”

What wealth I come from!To me it’s just the normTo have been loved so well so warmMy mother’s love for me my father’s tooMy sisters, brother and Bruce our dogAnd friends and wider family And genealogy it widened up my worldCousins in Tyldesley cousins in ManchesterCousins in Mayo as far as you could goAnd cousinsContinue reading “Love And Larkin”

My father, six months in the wombHears the sound of gunsSenses shade of tombTommies fighting HunsFar awayThen one day a sudden shockUncle John has diedMargaret criesCarries on to term My father, sixteen months a babeFeels the force of sorrowCome againUncle Owen Middle EastKilled by sniper shotMargaret criesCarries on – life’s lot My father, now 18WorkingContinue reading “A Woman’s Heart”

Bongs And Bent I’m not Boltonian reallyI’m five miles down the roadI’m over t’hill in TyldesleyFollow St Helen’s Road 82 ‘ll take youAlong down Newbrook RoadI get off at Shakerley LaneWalk that cobbled load Past Connelly’s on the rightNow you’re into WimpsRutland Road is where I liveWatch! That owd mon limps! Happy days I spentContinue reading “Bongs And Bent”

Snapshot For Posterity Aunty Kathleen, youngest childArguing with her mumMy grandma anxious for her goodAunty Nora watching onOlder sister enjoying funEnjoying where she stood Gran and Kathleen in the frayArguing the scoreNora butts in with her pieceAnd what’s more what’s more Kathleen’s having none of itBattling on two frontsEnough to face your mum and allDon’tContinue reading “Snapshot For Posterity”

Larkin wrote in ’64About such innocence lostA golden jubilee of timeFaces in the mistYoung lads barely out of schoolTaking the boat to France‘Home by Christmas’ was the shoutFat chance! No chance I joined up in ‘64Seventeen years of ageGoing into religionLeaving the world’s stageNever should have done that thingFar too young to knowLet me goContinue reading “Up With The Larkin”

John and Owen TrumbleWere sent to the naughty schoolSo I heardSomewhere Manchester wayTheir mum had diedTheir dad with seven childrenRound aboutThey needed helpIt sounds to meNot punishment Come the warBoth of them signed upLike so many moreThe whole worldHeading headlong into madness1914Larkin wrote his poem about it all In the merry month of May1916John isContinue reading “Great Uncles”

Just read Larkins’ ‘Church Going’I like itHaunting atmospheric piece to readWondering what church stands for,Is it dreaming?Or wishing for a thought to be a deed My church back in HindsfordHas been closed nowNigh on twenty yearsAnd not pulled downPreservation order keeps it standingWhat for what for?There’s no one now around Is it a challenge?To ourContinue reading “Where People Gather”

Gin Pit VillageGreat big football pitchRun around four timesYou’ve done a mileSummer 1960Olympics were it Rome?Imitated athletesKind of style Bernard MannionLed the runTalented footballerNearly played for Wanderers, he didPlayed for Lancashire BoysSaw him play at DeepdaleLight under a bushel can’t be hid Hot summer down in Gin PitLads all sat aroundKnew that I was goingContinue reading “Summer 1960”

On Reading ‘Aubade’ By Philip Larkin I write all day I don’t get drunk at nightI sleep sound and wake up at first lightI’ve lived my life in the light of resurrectionThis world I’ve always thought has a connectionTo what now came before, what comes afterThe sight and sounds of joy and merry laughterI’ve knownContinue reading “On Reading ‘Aubade’ By Philip Larkin”

Living on my ownIt’s easy to get slackNot bother about doing this or thatNo one here to criticiseNo one here to careTake your time – is it time to bat? Consider food for instanceCooking and such likeNow it’s only me to have a mealSlowing down I tell myselfWhy do all that messGet them in I’mContinue reading “Michael Cronin’s Legacy”

Carraful dominates the skylineTuiscean is a gently rolling hillGlencullen for most people a by lineFor me childhood memory and thrill The river flows shallow deep in placesTrout brown bog brown water winding freeBog as black as coal the river facesPulwinty bends the water back to me Slievemore Achill lords the southern skylineA world beyond myContinue reading “Where Else”

John 21:15-19 Mammy liked to quote the wordsSpoken once to PeterSome day another one will comeAnd tie you and take youWhere you would not goLooking at the days of setting sun I guess she knew her own lifeWould turn out to be longShe was so strong and healthy in her dayA broken hip and aContinue reading “What Will Be”