Dawn highlights the East while becoming towards it the tide patterns paper tigers on the wet silent sand oblivious of the night short-lived naked in a pristine bath Magherabeg glistens with gold; straight after a single breath a far-flung rest of the wind the waves slow to an interlude extended by awe, by the vision … Read more
ODE TO THE MOUNTAIN BROW (dedicated to Richard Greene) Cliff-topped at dawn in a euphoria so high I Paradise-verily see your wan white Pisa- Towering street-lights well-tipping utmost fealty to me, one I electrify back toward you with this Ode I compose under cadaver- soullessly blackening clouds — street-lights well-tipping with dew-new currency of gray-brown … Read more
As a UCD undergraduate I recall Professor Tom Bartlett likening Irish history to a pint of Guinness, ‘with black representing ownership of the land, and the white froth everything else, including all the political movements.’ Old habits die hard. The issue of property remains a paramount concern. By the year 2004 Ireland’s rate of private … Read more
Picture the scene: the small backyard of a tiny working-class pub in Belfast at around 8pm on a dark Autumn night. I am smoking with a friend, older by a few years, and with way more life experience, talking about books. A dim-light is ebbing away, further subdued by the frosted glass of the bar-door. … Read more
Awarded one of the Tidiest Towns in the nation, the place was profoundly inept and utterly corrupt. Indeed disturbing, because winning the competition was proof positive that the town represented how things operated in the entire country. In terms of organisation, it was the stuff of nightmare. Everything had to go through countless committees, and … Read more
KUNG FOOL ••••••••••••••• So you think you’re the Master? Meet the Master of Disaster: Bring your whole crew! I’ll just steal all your shoes. I’ll shoot the boot with cold Krug. Wised up? Tooled up? Tribed up? Bribed up? Congratulations. You wanna medal too? Bring the Joker & I’ll see you with a Fool. Flying … Read more
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business” Henry Ford. “Improving Employee Wellbeing”. “Creating Social Good”. “Sustainable Procurement and Consumption”. “Fair Pay for Fair Work”. These are just some of the slogans used by people talking about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, hereafter), which refers to practices benefitting society at large, … Read more
In Ireland, North and South, the Arts Sector, currently, is a sinecure. Those middle-class mentalities which dominate, and, indeed, hold most high profile positions, would argue vehemently against such – as they would see it – an offensive statement, but nevertheless I believe it to be a fair characterisation. ‘Stephen says bitterly, “It is the … Read more
For my Aunt Josie. Mamma died today, last year, at this very hour. I took care of her “Like an angel,” she would say, and I would never cry within her sight, nor anywhere in earshot, so that, at her funeral, and she died on the eve of her fortieth birthday, my eyes felt like … Read more
If stylistically Francesca Banciu’s latest novel translated into English Fleeing Father (Vatherflucht) is a much simpler construct than her previous incarnation, Mother’s Day – Song of a Sad Mother, it is written in the same inimitable prose, rendered beautifully by Banciu’s publisher, Catharine Nicely with Elena Mancini as translator. I was immediately reminded, on reading … Read more