Poetry Day Ireland/2021!
New Directions: Maps and Journeys.
I have a number of poems on the theme above but just the mood I'm in I went for this one!
Discovery
Damn these maps
Their safe harbours
This watch for yesterday
Quartered and halved
As the wind dictates
All talk these arguments
They plot
Like hungry ghosts
They pitch and roll
Their contradictions
Till they fall
Off the Earth.
They will lose themselves
Here be dragons.
Frank Murphy
RTE Concert Orchestra Perform: John Lennon!
To mark his 40th anniversary.
This was shown about a week ago and I think it was recorded last December. That said it was a fine production allowing for the fact that some of the orchestra were wearing masks and others not. Difficult with wind instruments I'd imagine. Better if they'd spaced them out a bit. I don't know whether my ears deceived me or not but did they drop the odd word or two from one of John Lennon's best known ballads. Haven't gone back to check but if I'm wrong: Hands up. I was also watching the film 'Rosie' back then and it's about a mother desperately trying to find accommodation for her children for the night and ending up having to sleep in a car park. I don't know about you but that sort of thing annoys me and the fact that it seems to be acceptable by the powers that be. The film stars Sarah Green and if you haven't seen it, worth a looksee. Remember the protest movements and the promises. We're politically correct about everything now in case it offends but not when it comes with a price.
Earth Day: Poem.
Today, April the 22nd is 'Earth Day' An international event that is celebrated around the world in support of environmental protection. The year 2021 is I believe the 51st anniversary of the celebrations. The theme this year is ' Restore our Earth'. I wrote this poem over ten years ago and things haven't changed much since. The opposite in fact.
Beyond this Point!
With not the wit to comprehend
His role in Nature's play
Quite separate from the scheme of things
He mastered all he could survey.
And thinking it a place that's strange
Of almost infinite resource
Imposed on what he can't admire
Some monument that's set in stone,
To ignorance and sometimes worse
To those a plague a curse.
Who'd measure what the profit yield
To burn the cattle in the field
And think there nothing much amiss
What kind of progress this?
Or use to ask what we have done
When fields and trees and rivers gone
And those who keep the common good
Have left a legacy that read
Caution you must be afraid
Beyond this point
There's poison laid.
Frank Murphy.
Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition 2021!
In association with Poetry Ireland.
This one has a deadline of Friday the 7th of May and the theme here is on Conflict: Pathways to to Peace. How families who have lost their homes and loved ones are rebuilding their lives through love and friendship. It is free to enter and open to young people, children and adults alike. Published and unpublished. You can enter online or by post and the full details are on the Poetry Ireland Competition page. Link to the right. Three poems per person and do not exceed thirty lines. Trócaire uses the arts to raise awareness about the leading global issues of our time.
