Premier Writing showcases poetry, essays and short fiction by new and emerging Irish writers. This week’s featured poet is John O’Brien from West Cork.
Poetry
Seskin
A view I see from above,
To fields of buttercups,
Cattle and sheep graze,
To houses and landmarks
Wolfe Tone, St. Brendan, Famine Abbey Memorial
Of Bantry Town
Of past, present and future landmarks soon to come.
Drifting shadows,
Of the sun and sky.
Behind clouds of
mists, rain, wind and fog.
On the mountains
To the sea of Islands
Whiddy and Garnish
Sherkin and Cape Clear.
To fields by fleeting
Glance,
Drift away from my
Vision.
I then turn my back
from the view below,
moving forward with
The wind behind me.
To the masts of feet
of hundreds,
Give communication
To Bantry, Ireland.
World. And back.
The road I take
To Mealagh Valley,
Twenty wind turbines
To my right.
Turn three hundred and sixty-five
Degrees,
In the wind and flicker
of the sun.
The wind through my mind.
To my ears
irds I hear
And see.
I reach a valley on the road,
Of shelter, sun, heat and light.
The wind is whistling.
Fairy thimbles, shrubs of red flowers,
A tree I see
Holding its strength against the wind,
With the wind of sally grey.
Moving forward, with
Wind of strength.
Moving back the road
Again, to the mask of Seskin
I look up and see
Grey, soft white clouds
And small flicker of
Blue of the sky above.
On my right
A ruin, a story
It can tell
Of time and place.
Now back again,
Where I began,
Seskin,
Of drifting shadows,
Of Bantry town,
Hungry Hill, ocean liners
A gateway to the world
By Bantry Bay
Morning Fog
Seven Fifteen, in a wet
And cold damp morning,
Bird rising, in the music.
Angels in the air.
Fighting for us in our problems,
A woman going home from work,
Her night is finished, to
Sleep the day for the night.
The ocean is still,
The clouds are down to the horizon.
The sun may yet appear,
But every day, has a new dawn.
And a new dusk.
That never appear before.
A woman counselling an old woman
Of eighty two, but her
Spirit is broken, Her mind
Is trying to make sense
Of life that has been lived.
In the twilight years of life
Problems do arise,
Thinking back, recapping
Life of yester years, can
Be a struggle in itself.
Be gentle, to the mind and to the soul.
About the author:
John O’Brien is a member of the Bandon Library Writers Group. He has published poems with his local Southern Star newspaper, and recently presented at Kinsale’s Words by Water. He is an organic farmer and lover of nature.
He is passionate about the West Cork land and seascape, particularly around the Seskin area of Bantry Bay, Co. Cork.
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