No Tales Out of School
In days of old if you were bold Or not, and got yourself slapped by the rule Your parents you never told …
Pretty Smiles and Pigtails – The Mary Boyle Mystery
Watching Gemma O’Doherty’s documentary on the missing child Mary Boyle nearly forty years ago is chilling, with interference at a political level …
Whisht Held Well
“Hoult yer whisht” ~ keep quiet about that A whisht held well, held for too long So none could tell of the …
High Cost of Cheap Beef From Brazil
The powers that be tell you that we Should be happy with beef from Brazil They suppose its racist to oppose What …
Catch of the Merrow
The Merrow (Moruadh or Murrúghach, from muir, sea, and oigh, a maid) was a sea spirit thought to lure people to their …
Celtic Tiger was Not By Poets Built
You cant build a house with words, you know – Chris McCormack Houses are not by words built They are by developers …
The Circus Animals Liberation
My circus animals were all on show, Those stilted boys, that burnished chariot, Lion and woman and the Lord knows what The …
Myths of Ireland Present
No more we talk of the Tuatha De Dannan Or the Danish fort dwelling Aos Si No more of the Pooka or …
Plain of the Kings of Irelands Past
Some people wonder why I am so into supporting the turf cutters rights. My dad worked Blackwater Bog, where the order came …
All Is Fair in the War of an Election
Background – James Bannon of Fine Gael in Longford got questioned today by Garda (police) about removing voting leaflets belonging to Sinn …
This Could Be 1939 Again
“This Could Be 1939 Again” Czech Roma refugee, a friend of mine, who will remain nameless, circa 1998 The flames of fate …
Treasure Sleeps on Chest of All She Needs
There is a lot of “we must look after our own first” going around now that the refuggees from Syria are on …
Outcasts In from the Cold?
Its heartening to hear suddenly everybody wanting to look after our own Coming out of the closet of carers now the migrant …
Shoulder High Let Them Carry Him – Jim Larkin Tribute
What would Jim Larkin make of the corruption in the Labour Party today? Or the roll over and take a piece actions …
As If Minstrels Dressed, They Wear Sacred Feathers
Once upon a time in Ireland Not all that long ago When I was a young boy, a younger man People dressed …
Ill Go Where Im Sent
Invitation received: all were excited Again their friends where they are twinned they would meet Its not a junket: this, this is …
Toasting Two Kings
I was at the Aughrim Horse Fair last Sunday, and while viewing all of the horses – and the women! – there, …
We Are Spectators on Another Greek Tragedy
As Alexis Tsipras capitulates to the EU/IMF,we remember one of austerities victims… The death of Dimitirs Christaupolos shows the callous effect that …
That Beats Banagher
They want the horse fair banished from the streets to a field Where they believe all horses should be Their spirit contained, …
Cavaliers To Ride Again At Banagher Fair
They will tumble down as Dick did before them To one side will be their self important laws will be thrown We …