Beyond the Pale (in West Cork) I commit a minor act of appropriation – pick plants whose names I don’t know from the ditches to try and make my own of the unfamiliar: the rise ahead in the road the peak of Miskish behind me the arthritic finger of Coulagh bay before me. In my field guide I always seem to be going … Continue reading ‘Beyond the Pale’ by Ann Leahy
The Kaleidoscope My Big Brother Gave Me It created geometric processions out of rooms: made a pair of butterflies rise from a fireside chair, caused a ball of wool to fan and become a guelder-rose, a cylinder of gas to spoke into a four-pronged star, eight eyes to glisten from a hot-plate ringed with chrome. It put my reflection in as part of the pattern: … Continue reading ‘The Kaleidoscope My Big Brother Gave Me’ by Ann Leahy
And Other Poems 