Arms

Arms

Arms are everywhere

These days

Making offers

You can't refuse

Under the covers.

If you get in quick

You can make a killing

Casing the joints.

A stroke here

Or a stroke there

And it's all wrapped up,

One cut below the other

And if you're not careful

You could wake up beside

A horse's head.

Photograph: The Boyne along the Ramparts

in Navan. Spring/2008.

Poems about War.

The next few poems

touch lightly on the

subject of war.

A safe distance you

might say!

Correspondents.

I drove downtown

the night the Gulf War started,

and it was an eerie feeling.

There was nobody there.

Everyone had gone home

to watch the war on television.

Stocked up on foodstuffs.

Filled the bath full of water.

Crisscrossed the windows

with masking tape and waited,

listening to the World Service.

Until struck

by the similarity of language.

A book is a dangerous thing.

Photograph: The river Boyne at

Navan Co.Meath

Spring 2008.

Images Of Meath

"Images Of Meath" is the latest in a series of books on his native county by the Trim poet and author Tommy Murray.

Published by Nonsuch it opens with a chapter on the Boyne and its Bridges, for centuries some of the most important landmarks in the county, and certainly at odds with much of what surround them today. Mary Jo Gibbons observations on the quality of life and the living environment and the failure of those who protect them are so true.

The author's own recollection of days spent in Gormanston Camp in the fifties are included and turning the pages many of the names if not the faces will be familiar. The old Lee-Enfields ended up in a few Parish Halls.

Tobertynan woods outside Rathmolyon also feature and if you happen to be passing and have a handy pair of walking shoes then a visit to the beautiful shrine in the woods is a must. Leona Rennicks has a piece on Ardbraccan Church, while Christmas in the 40s and 50s is fondly remembered. Other items as well.

Available in Antonia's in Trim, Bookwise in Navan, also in Easons.

Details at http://meathbooks.blogspot.com/ or the Meath Writers' Website. Give it a Look!