THE KILKENNY INVOLVEMENT CENTRE AND RECOVERY COLLEGE SOUTH EAST HAVE PRODUCED A WONDERFUL ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY AND PROSE. ‘WHITE TWINE AND OLD SUITCASES’ COMPRISES OF 128 PAGES AND 60 AUTHORS AND IS COMPLEMENTED BY SOME WONDERFUL PHOTOS AND ARTWORK BY TASK CAMERA CLUB. IT IS PRINTED BY MODERN PRINTERS. IT IS DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED READING FOR ALL LOVERS OF POETRY. THE KILKENNY OBSERVER IS HAPPY TO RUN THE POEMS EACH WEEK TO PROMOTE CREATIVE WRITING AND TO HIGHLIGHT THESE WONDERFUL CENTRES. AVAILABLE IN ALL KILKENNY BOOK SHOPS. €10
Tethered
This chaos is addictive,
I see how you fall.
A heart that is broken, barely beating at all.
I tell you maybe,
When I know that it’s never.
You have a young heart, looking for forever.
The pain that I caused you, mirrored in my own.
Heartbreak made easier, when not faced alone.
I am sorry my darling,
I had already been tethered.
And I was the one who believed in forever.
Grace Power
Sounds from the Woods
Thick, dark and weird sounds.
You held all the secrets.
You gave them to me.
Wild birds you sheltered.
They decorated skies up above me.
Red Squirrels gliding from tree to tree.
The river, with its flooded waters,
That you let me fish in.
The rabbits that I hunted with our dogs.
The red fox that stole my mother’s ducks.
The badger snorting in my pathway.
The pungent scent in the air when he passed.
The chestnuts on your biggest trees,
That we played games with at our school.
Your Sally bushes, we cut and angled.
Made bow and arrows and played games of cowboys and Indians.
Your water lilies, blanketing the duck pond,
Your wild blossoms standing over its deep secrets.
Sighting of your moor hen, nesting in the centre of the reeds.
Seven fluffy chicks adding new life to the still pond,
Nettles and bramble bushes, that kept us out of your deepest heart,
You let me in to see all, season by season.
You protected your creatures,
while I grew up to understand.
Judy Rhatigan
Instructions to the Self
Use blind contours to capture the self,
stand before a mirror religiously,
for thirty days, or a moon cycle
whichever reveals more,
whichever appeals more,
close your eyes,
open your eyes,
set the sketch pad into the elbow,
take the 2HB and
look at the self. Look!
See the contours of your face,
the brows, the hairline,
ears, nose, so on and so on
notice the mathematical,
primarily the angles from crease
to brow to lip to lash, to freckle
the events leading up to your death
etched on your skin.
Nuala Roche
