Ciara

This projected connected us in a time of isolation. A lot of people started speaking about their own experiences with poverty as well as mental health and it just showed that no matter who you are and where you’re from – we are all one, we are all equal and we all have experiences that are difficult, although for some the struggle is much harder. We must come together to end poverty and achieve equality and justice for all!

 

Foreign Policy

I enter this race, unwillingly.

You’re policies have put me in the Goblet of Fire without my consent.

The screeching sound of the starting siren rises but it does not fall.

This is a complex game of cat and mouse and in the wilderness I feel small.

Like a tiny ant caught in the Southern sands of the Sahara desert.

Lost in the tide – I go unnoticed by the hardened Earth that surrounds me.

I am so tired of running, yet I cannot stop.

This siren burns in my ear like the constant lies of those in power.

The conflicting sounds of both help and death.

Whilst fear shatters hope and hate shatters love –

War shatters Peace.

Until the siren stops and I am finally left,

– Alone.



Fish Tank

Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning

In a fish tank full of other peoples dreams

And shattered hopes

Trying to find solace

In a see through globe made out of glass –

Where onlookers stare and whisper

As if they have never seen a fish like me before

Gawping at my tender body

Pointing fingers at my flaws

Tip-tapping on the window to my little, fairy home

Feeding me with spoon after spoonful

Of food – not for thought

I begin to feel like a dolphin at sea-world

Gasping for air whilst trying to breathe

Blowing bubbles – waiting to burst

When all I want to do

Is to stay calm –

And float on my own –

Like a precious mermaid

Deep in the rainbow waves of the sea.

 

Bless Me Pharma

by Pat O Gormans

For I fear Covid

It’s been two weeks

Since my first injection

I chatted to my neighbour over the wall

I had handy men in the house

My wife and I shopped together

I don’t wash my hands often enough

I hugged my grandkids

I confess it’s not a cod

The threat is real and imminent

So I’ll make a better effort

To obey HSE, NIAC, NPHET;

Leaked government guidelines;

And not get caught……..

Or maybe I’ll just go on!

‘But I can’t go on like this’;

Breathe, while I can sir

Lend a hand, if I can sir

Make a change, when I can sir

And don’t talk about

Covid, climate or cancer

It’s the Eve of Bealtine

by Pat O Gormans

Pink wispy clouds drift eastwards

Pausing at sunset in awe

Drawn westward against the wind

That gradually erases them

Lower darker clouds

Hide the setting sun

That appears ablaze

On their crests

Darkness falls slowly

The remaining wisps

Set off east again

Bealtaine begins