This is the cover of my book, "FLAGHOPPING and Other Poems" that was published in January, 2011.

There are a few copies left and they can be obtained directly from myself.  There may be a few still left in

some bookshops, especially in Cork.   Liam Ruiséal's in Oliver Plunkett St., Cork, did, up to recently, have them.  

It can also be obtained from the publishers, Original Writing Ltd., Dublin.

I divided the book into several sections, namely:

Inis Meáin,

Nature,

For Fun,

From Observation,

Friends and Feelings,

Love and Romance,

&

Family Relationships

I have also included a short introduction to the various sections and where I felt it necessary for a proper

understanding of what I was attempting to convey I have also included a short introduction to some

of the poems.

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                              STILLBIRTH

Young mother,

Yesterday laughing with the joy

Of what should have been yours today.

Today weeping for the loss

Of what could have been yours tomorrow.

 

Remember old mothers,

With the wisdom of many winters

And the deep face-etching of many sorrows,

Telling the unheeding young

That raindrops fall when angels weep.

Know this,

That on Summer days, when skies are blue,

And clouds dawdle,

You may feel a single raindrop on your cheek

And wonder whence it came.

You will know then

Who, in a fleeting moment,

Passed close to you

And kissed you.

For a young mother you will always be

Though your baby is beyond your reach

----------------------------

EARTH MOTHER

(Remembering my grandmother, Kate Crowley,, 1874 - 1944)

 

I've only seen you through your daughter's eye,

A child on your hip, another behind,

Going down the field to help the men to bind

The golden corn the reapers left to lie,

To stand the sheaves in stooks for wind to dry.

Some sadder days my mother called to mind,

You gazed at the Atlantic and you pined

For sight of sons and daughters, with a sigh.

         The twelve you raised have scattered round the World,

         The five you lost you held close to your heart.

         You took the force of each misfortune hurled;

         You blamed not God when loved ones had to part.

         The willow rods you planted have now grown.

         The Earth has harvested from what you'd sown.

 

Though my grandmother was, of course, Cataherine O'Donovan of Farran, Ardfield, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland, she was usually known by her maiden name, Kate Crowley.

A new spipment of my book, "Flaghopping and Other Poems", is expected before the end of October, 2015.  They now cost €16.00 each - due, unfortunately, to the poor rate of exchange - plus €2.00 for postage if required.  I can usually put them in the post the same day.