She was a bag lady lonely and sad Who wandered the roads of Galway, Wretched dishevelled and shabbily clad, Among boreens lanes and byways. Knowing the houses of welcome And ones that showed her the door, For all well knew she was irksome And yet part of our living folklore. My memory returns to childhood… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Local Poetry
’t’wer on ’is Blackburn allotment while working with hoe an’t rake, came on a great big serpent that some folks now call a snake. He knew that something wasn’t reet amongst greens an’t curly kale, t’wer nearly all of seventeen feet from fangs to tip o’ ’is tail! He weren’t going to argue with Python,… Read more »
It’s a dreary stormy winter night With a watery ghostly moon, And angry flashes of dark and light, On the wind from Cahernahoon. The castle stands against the gale Now a shrieking howling moan, Sinister and eerie its whistling wail Over the fields of Cahernahoon. The ruin gives barely a tremble In answer to the… Read more »
Edward Coppinger who is a native of Lackaghbeg and is well known for his excellent poetry over many years has launched a book entitled The Poacher’s Son—Memories of Ireland and other Poems. Edward, who has been a regular contributor to the Claregalway parish magazine Nuacht Chláir (check out some of his local poems online here or… Read more »
Oranmore Library Poetry Reading Group will present a poetry reading on Thursday 12th of September at 7.30pm. The readers who are from the Galway area will read from the second edition of possibly the most interesting poetry magazine being currently published in Ireland—Skylight 47. The local produced publication takes a newspaper format and includes reviews,… Read more »
Feast of St James, Baile Chláir, 25th July 2013 No ordinary Thursday A month long heatwave Thawing our hearts and sun starved bones, Quieter and half anaesthetised we gather In our Church of St James. Mostly on foot from all corners of the parish We could have been in Spain Wearing our mantillas, as some… Read more »
Are you still there aflowing With Connaught blackwater you drain, That I loved so much agrowing My Clare I won’t see again. On your banks often went rambling ‘Twas mostly daydreaming in truth, Escaping during my wandering With a mind of untroubled youth.
It’s a long way from “the stony grey soil” of Monaghan that inspired Patrick Kavanagh’s poetry to the lush landscapes of New Zealand. But that’s where the winner of this year’s Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Prize lives. Caoilinn Hughes (27), from Claregalway in Co Galway, has always loved poetry. She did a Master’s degree in theatre studies in Queen’s… Read more »
It was County Mayo I was born in, Under the sign of a Horologist star, At dawn on a cold frosty morning Near to a town called Ballina. I roamed the byways of Connaught Practising my clockmakers art, The skill of my hands all sought— They knew I was good at my craft. Odd kinds… Read more »
The following poem was written by local resident Maura Kavanagh, following the death of Claregalway’s Parish Priest, Father Noel Mullin. No Noel This Christmas We survived without you Oh God how we missed you this Christmas gone; Like a ship on a starless night you sailed beyond the horizon Silently, no ripples, no limelight No gong… Read more »
Mighty the force of that lashing sea, The rigging trembled and moaned, In mountainous waves as none did see, On an ocean that boiled and foamed. That hurricane’s blast shook the mast, The decks were out of bounds, And men thought of sins long past— In the ‘eye’ of the storms sound. We pitched, rolled… Read more »
The Return Red and white cones Yellow diggers. Roadworks. What’s the story? Major clearance Reappearance. The Nine Arches In all their glory. by Patricia Carton—January 1998 Across from the Friary and near Claregalway Castle is the bridge over the River Clare. It was first mentioned in 1349 and was a wooden structure. The bridge of… Read more »