My poem for Breda O'Brien & Iona Institute gets Irish Times mention

My poem 'What The Virgin At Knock Would Say If She Could Speak', which is dedicated to Breda O'Brien and The Iona Institute, got a mention on the Irish Times website yesterday.

The poem is from my 2014 collection The Ghost In The Lobby, which was published by Salmon Poetry. 

RTE Poetry Programme Interview

I was on the RTE Poetry Programme last Saturday evening talking to Rick O'Shea about my upcoming online poetry workshop, which starts next week. You listen to the show on the RTE player here. My interview is, more or less, the final ten minutes. 

If you're interested in booking a place on the course, which starts next Wednesday, you can do so here. 

'Static' by Gráinne McHale

Poem by Gráinne McHale

'Static' 

Backward steps
into a burnt-out womb.

The smell of those trees I knew.
There, looking at me,
across from a house
I lived in years ago.
I live near it again now,
beside the landlady’s son[i]
but he doesn’t know me.
I think.

People go by too fast for me to know.
People I used to know in each place.
All gone,
always going.
I know no one now,
no one knows me.
No one would know if I was not here.

If I died that would be some comfort
if there was someone who missed me
I could wait around for a bit
to help them get over it.
My Mum n’ Dad would be sad,
my brother
but the people I loved
without permission -
The Boys -
like they were my own soul
No
like they were God’s soul.

A Holy Trinity -
Jodie, Johnny, Roddy.
The last two were mirror similar:
ginger, freckled, ivory, svelte.
A beautiful, self-perpetuating
biological pattern,
like cancer.

Being so displeasing to one
might have been alright.
But three?
No, I suppose it would’ve been
like drinking and limits.
Two’s my limit,
way over with the third.

The third being Roddy,
with the rose petal, crème egg kisses,
belonging to some new girlfriend
or other every time I saw him.
Then – every time - he stole a kiss
goodbye from my lips
and I’d never see it coming.
To go home and put my hand in the fire.

So,
I left his city
and came back to my town.
Out of fright,
out of exhaustion.

To live again near the trees
that knew me to see
back then before I left
for the big city.
I didn’t know them then
but remember them now
to smell.

---

[i] The landlady’s son referred to is me. Mom died on May 31st 2011.

Gráinne McHale is from County Galway. She graduated in 2010 with a BA Fine Art in GMIT Galway and is currently studying for a MA Writing at NUIG. She writes poetry and fiction; has made a number of short films and her artwork has been exhibited both internationally and at home. Her website is https://grainnemchale.wordpress.com/ and her work also features on The Bogman’s Cannon. Gráinne was a Featured Reader at the March Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library. 

Poem I was commissioned to write by Trinity College Dublin

Today I completed an occasional poem titled simply 'Poem Commissioned For Trinity College Symposium on Eustace McNally'. 

The English Department at Trinity College Dublin commissioned me to write this piece; I’m reliably informed that a number of academics will have to be sold off to raise the money needed to pay me my fee. 

You can read it here. 

The Haircut

I've published a number of new poems online recently and the reaction has been universally positive.

Here is my most recently published effort which is less overtly political than recent others; it's called 'The Haircut' and thanks to Chris Murray for giving it space on her fine Poethead poetry website.

I will be getting a haircut myself on Tuesday (it being Cúirt Festival week here in Galway) and plan to get one in this style myself.

My re-write of the 1916 Proclamation

My re-write of the 1916 Proclamation is published here and here. 

Palestine & poetry meet at Cúirt: my profile of Naomi Shihab Nye in this week's Galway Advertiser

My profile of Naomi Shihab Nye - Palestine & poetry meet at Cúirt - is in this week's Galway Advertiser.