Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
‘Local Hero’ © Joe Canning 2019. All Rights Reserved. Joe Canning ‘ A look at Ireland in verse’ In our street there’s a chap I can’t mention, A character famed in the town, Sure he’s partial to selling the poitín, And many’s a flagon I downed. It’s brewed from his crop on the mountain, […]
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‘The Plantation of Ulster’ © Aine Kelly 2016. All Rights Reserved. We stood and watched the ships as they sailed into the bay, little realising that they’d come to enslave us and take our homes and lands away. I held my newborn baby tight, and stood in defiance of that fearsome sight, little knowing that […]
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‘Prayers in a Foreign Field’ © Joe Canning 2019. All Rights Reserved. Joe Canning ‘ A look at Ireland in verse’ The bells rang out at 6am, at noon and six at night, To still the lands and living rooms for just a little while. As eighteen times the hammer struck, The old folk stood […]
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‘A Walk Among Snowdrops’ © Joe Canning 2019. All Rights Reserved. Joe Canning ‘ A look at Ireland in verse’ My warm breath creates a brief mist, The crisp fallen leaf and twig crackles underfoot. My heavy boots rustle the natural compost. The earthen floor is soft, cushioning, comforting. The alert squirrel darts […]
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‘Untitled For Christmas’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. Warm is my breath as it comforts my hands, Soft plays the hymn from ‘The Salvation Band’, My thoughts they do stray to my friends far away, They, that left this old country behind. For want of a penny and a fortune to […]
Read More‘Remembering Absent Friends’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. Joe Canning ‘ A look at Ireland in verse’ I remember Mama saying, that there’s whispers in the trees, That there’s love in many places, if we’d only look and see, That there’s little signs of comfort, that can ease a hurting pain, That there’s […]
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‘Kitty’s’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. Two rounds of bread and butter And a mug of golden tea, Cost us a shiny sixpence. Back in nineteen sixty three. Five songs we got for thruppence, The coin with a dozen sides. And the doggie men from Derry, Filled Harte’s bar on racing […]
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‘Gullion: Mountain of Steep Slopes’ © John A. Brennan 2015. All Rights Reserved. They call me Gullion. I am old as time itself, older than the pre-dawn of life, forged in the crucible of a ring of fire, before man existed. Up here the air is pure and fresh and crisp as the frost of […]
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‘On Yonder Hillside Sloping’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. On yonder hillside sloping, A fallen house I see, Where boiled the blackened saucepan, To peasant family feed. Where once was baked the oaten scone, All dressed with fresh churned butter, Where once they prayed in grateful thanks For the tatties on […]
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‘Chatting to my Mother’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. Today I shook hands with my dad; in The fresh air, on the outside. For fourteen years he’s looked at me From across a visitor’s table. Today I tasted a small gift of freedom. I walked with my sister outside the walls. […]
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