Poetry Chicago special issue on Young Irish Poets

A few words from Dave Lordan on the Poetry Chicago special issue on Young Irish Poets. Read what Dave has to say here. 

The other Donald

Mutti Merkel Speaks Finally of Debt Forgiveness

Mutti Merkel & your man from Castlebar

Catching up a bit here. My poem Mutti Merkel Speaks Finally of Debt Forgiveness was published a couple of week's back on The Bogman's Canon & on the U.S. based political website Fact's For Working People.  

The disgust of Colette Browne

@KevinHIpoet1967 That's actually really offensive - Enda Kenny is not a nazi. Take it down.

— Colette Browne (@colettebrowne) July 13, 2015

The usually liberal, left of centre journalist Colette Browne of The Irish Independent thinks that this poem includes a "disgusting slur" against Enda Kenny, and is spending time on Twitter being outraged about it. 

Funny thing to be outraged about, tonight of all nights. Liberals, sure where would we be without them. Pretty much where we are actually. 

"Never sees an enemy coming
without immediately offering them
another piece of the country,
before they’ve even put
the ultimatum in writing;
when he urged the Greek people
to follow his example, geologists say
on an island off the coast of Brittany
Marshal Petain’s willy twitched
awake in its grave and began whispering
to itself in perfect High German,
that the good old days
are here again."

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Rhapsody for Self #Hillary2016

My new poem 'Hillary Rodham Clinton Rhapsody for Self' #‎Hillary2016‬ was today published here, here, and here.

Poem in Saturday's Morning Star

Happy to hear that my poem 'Austerity Mantra' was re-published in Saturday's edition of the British left wing daily newspaper The Morning Star which was on sale on Saturday's London and Glasgow anti-austerity demonstrations. 

The poem is from my 2014 collection The Ghost In The Lobby (Salmon Poetry). 

My review of Máire T. Robinson's novel in today's Galway Advertiser

My review of Máire T. Robinson's novel Skin Paper Stone is in today's Galway Advertiser.

Sixteen years ago today my first ever review - of a book of essays by Kerry poet Gabriel Fitzmaurice - appeared in the same paper. 

To Denis O’Brien On Announcement of His Plan To Donate Own Corpse To Museum of Himself

Maltese based Irish entrepreneur, and friend of Bill and Hillary, Mr Denis O'Brien, has lately been the subject of a lot of entirely unjustified criticism from the usual commie/Provo fascists who most of the time exist only in the darker parts of Eoghan Harris's mind but who lately, all across Ireland, have taken on actual physical form.

Actual physical form

In this hour of his need, it's time for decent men and women of all persuasions and none to step forward and defend Mr O'Brien who, after all, has an Honorary Doctorate from U.C.D. and, as everyone knows, no one with an Honorary Doctorate from U.C.D. could ever be capable of doing evil.

Irish Independent 'journalist' and former O'Brien assistant, Sarah Carey, was thinking of writing an article defending Denis. 

Sarah Carey

But it was generally agreed that that would just be tearing the arse out of it. 

So, in Ms Carey's absence, I decided yesterday that it was time I stepped up and wrote a tribute poem for Mr O'Brien.

You can read it here 'To Denis O’Brien On Announcement of His Plan To Donate Own Corpse To Museum of Himself'. 

Feel free to re-publish it on blogs, or indeed to go about the place shouting it out of megaphones at effete lyric poets who think all this could be solved by proper ethics legislation.