Poetry Circle

On first Sunday of the month in People’s Park, Bray.

I had a swim, walk, scrambleddy egg breakfast and then a leisurely walk to the park.

The chairman Paul introduced a new person who was there to read a poem by a friend of his, a Bray man who emigrated to USA in the 80s. He is now seriously ill and longs to be home in Bray but can’t make the trip.  The poem was poignant and full of longing.

A Polish woman read a poem of her own in Polish and English and also that lovely poem by Derek Walcott

https://youtu.be/n_3QbH_aNmc


Carmen sang a song beautifully, ‘If I were a blackbird…’. And someone else read a poem by Seamus Heaney ‘BlackBerry Picking’.

And all around us this lovely park, the trees turning to orange and the Wicklow Hills in the background.  The sky was blue with just a few clouds.

My poem is here (written last week)…


SOMETIMES WHEN I GET TO THINKING

(written for Masha Amini 2000-2022)


Sometimes when I get to thinking
I think how lucky I am to be born Irish
To live in a land
of beauty and passion
Where I can speak freely, and others will listen

Sometimes when I get to thinking
I think how lucky I am to be born woman
To give birth
To feed
To nurture and cherish

To scream and shout
Full of savagery and mischief

To wear what I want
To go where I want
To take my place fully in society


Sometimes when I get to thinking
I think how great it is not only to be human
But to feel fully human
To feel the earth's pulse - the earth's roar
The conflicts of the ages
The manifestation of the infinite

And the evil that can prevail


Sometimes when I get to thinking
I think I must do more than just think
I must speak, I must intervene, I must be aware
Sometimes when I get to thinking.

*****