Printed Shadows – 40 Years plus of Writing and Cultural Journalism

Tag: Poems

  • December 31, 2019

    On this last day of 2019 (which many also believe to be the end of the decade) we also say goodbye to Project 366 (or Project 365+1). Project 366 was started by Kit Kelen and a number of colleagues 4 years ago with the intention to try and write and load a poem a day for a year. Many poets have passed through the project and it has obviously lasted more than a year. I managed to load a poem a day for a month and then added the occasional poem over the following months and years.

    To mark the passing of the project, and to mark the passing of a decade I decided to load one last poem. Taking Auden’s ‘September 1, 1939’ as my guide, I made a few changes to try and reflect the reality of living and surviving in an Australia which denies climate change and which is burning and burning and burning. You can find my attempt, ‘December 31, 2019’ at:

    https://project365plus.blogspot.com/2019/12/december-31-2019.html

  • Poetic Journal: 19 December 2017: ‘‘Easter 1916 – Dublin GPO’’

    Day three of my December/January poetic journal.  On our first full day in Dublin we visited the Dublin GPO.

     

    19 December 2017 ‘Easter 1916 – Dublin GPO’

    Along with the saints
    my grandfather taught me
    the name of the martyrs:

    ……….Patrick Pearse,
    ……….Thomas MacDonagh,
    ……….Thomas Clarke,
    ……….Joseph Plunkett,
    ……….William Pearse,
    ……….Edward Daly,
    ……….Michael O’Hanrahan,
    ……….John MacBride,
    ……….Éamonn Ceannt,
    ……….Michael Mallin,
    ……….Seán Heuston,
    ……….Con Colbert,
    ……….James Connolly
    ……….Sean MacDiarmada.

    He was just about to turn sixteen
    when the uprising took place
    on the other side of the world
    fifty years later he still held that anger.
    He told me that they had to rope Connolly
    to a chair in front of the firing squad
    because his ankle had been shattered
    by a bullet in the GPO.

    My grandfather never saw Ireland
    but today I silently tell him
    there is no union jack
    flying on Dublin GPO.

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    Over the coming few weeks I will be doing a bit of travelling on the other side of the world. I have decided to try and keep a small poetic journal to capture some of my observations and thoughts during this period. The poems aren’t complete or polished, please treat them more as observations or first drafts.

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  • Poetic Journal: 18 December 2017 ‘Yellow Sea Chest’

    Day two of my December/January poetic journal. I still have the sea chest that my great grandmother brought with her to Australia from Ireland in the mid 19th century. As we tried to meet the baggage restrictions for the flight to Dublin I reflected on the luggage restrictions she faced.

     

    Yellow Sea Chest 18/12/17

    A per airline instructions
    we have packed  two bags each
    to travel 30 hours to Ireland.
    We have left behind
    my great grandmother’s
    sea chest which contained
    all her possessions when she travelled
    from Cork to Sydney 150 years ago.
    She had luggage restrictions as well
    one sea chest for everything she wanted to keep
    for her new life away from hunger and the British
    (I have often wondered about the British
    in the colonies but my grandfather said
    it was a different oppression).

    The sea chest has secret compartments
    and pictures from the 1860s vanished onto boards
    the leather straps have rotted away
    and my grandfather painted it yellow
    during the depression
    “a bright colour to cheer things up”.
    I have recently found that the curve top
    meant that it had to be stacked on top
    of the pile of cases in the hold
    and indicated that my great grandmother
    had a little more money than most.

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    Over the coming few weeks I will be doing a bit of travelling on the other side of the world. I have decided to try and keep a small poetic journal to capture some of my observations and thoughts during this period. The poems aren’t complete or polished, please treat them more as observations or first drafts.

     

     

  • Poetic Journal: 17 December 2017 ‘hidden’

    Over the coming few weeks I will be doing a bit of travelling on the other side of the world. I have decided to try and keep a small poetic journal to capture some of my observations and thoughts during this period. The poems aren’t complete or polished, please treat them more as observations or first drafts. The first post is dated 17 December and covers the flight from Australia to Ireland.

     

    hidden

    leaving melbourne
    flying northwest
    across night desert
    below
    …………darkness scattered lights
    above
    …………a richness of stars
    stories are hidden here
    even in daylight
    but at night they call to us
    singing across country
    and reaching into the sky

    …………in this plane
    we eat
    watch a movie
    and try to sleep

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    Poetic Journal: 18 December 2017 ‘Yellow Sea Chest’