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
Spring 2022
Strange light in the house this morning;
white tears fall from the sky.
The world is shrouded in grey,
air filled with pale missiles,
hurtling about, moving this way, then that,
hitting the earth, dissolving.
This won’t last.
Crows huddle, their feathers fluffed,
watching me with hopeful eyes.
I go outside clutching a basin of food,
feet crunch, sink through a frozen crust.
Moving away, I hear behind me
the scramble for food; their black bodies
shimmer like ghosts in the mottled haze.
I see white flakes like ash begin to gather
on pansies in newly planted pots
intended for my parents’ grave.
I wish I could bring them in out of the cold
but there’s nowhere to put them
out of harm’s way. I look up into the sky.
There seems no end to this.
Ann Beck
Everyday Things
Bring me all your regrets, my love. I will patch each one with Sachiko spells.
A needle and threads of gold and silver.
Stitch each imperfection into a pattern we can recognise.
A sequence that makes sense. Beautiful mistakes celebrated with artful intention.
My love, pick all your sorrows from the thorny stem of bramble branch, there’s a bucket by the door.
I am mixing flour, butter, iced water.
Kneading enough dough to enfold each bleeding berry, mixed with sugar.
We will set the timer and take it from the hot oven to eat when cool, with cream.
Open the door and let me gather all your pains, my love.
Let me pick them up from the floor, collect them in a basket.
I will wash them over and over, rinse and spin, scoop them all in my arms.
Then peg them on the line in the bright morning sun.
We will watch them through the window while the kettle boils.
Wind and sun will do together what we cannot. We will sit and sip, watch them drying.
Reclaiming their rightful shapes as ordinary everyday things.
Alice Bennett
So Green the Grass
So green the grass, so clean the path,
On the road not travelled by.
To longing eyes it looks as if
There’s nothing we did right.
And yet I know each way in life
Bears wonderful nights skies
And dawns and rain, and thorns and pain,
And songs of joy and pride.
What if, what if, I ask myself,
I went with the wrong tide?
What if, what if, I ask again,
There’s beauty, on this side?
Gemma Aloisi
