Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
"Looking Good, Mary" is something my parrot used to say to me and when I was feeling low it gave me a real lift. This book of poems started as a collection of memoirs that I wrote for my children. It is a mixture of things that happen in everyday life - funny and sometimes sad. I am still amused as I read these as every one of them is a true story from my life.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had tried to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore, Nameless here for evermore.” These are the first two verses of ‘The Raven’, a poem full of dark and disturbing images, rife with tension, fear, paranoia, terror and a yearning for a lost love that has returned to this earth as a ghost. As a poem ‘The Raven’ is without doubt more famous and widely known than the troubled author who penned it. His name was Edgar Allan Poe, and his work was directly responsible for shaping the modern horror industry as we know it. He was the Godfather of Gore, the Father of Fear, the Master of the Macabre, and the Guardian of the Gruesome. Poe was also one of the best mystery writers of all time, however the most fascinating puzzle he left us was that of his own life, and in this journal, we will follow in the great man’s footsteps to turn detective. Edgar Allan Poe was born early in the 19th Century, yet still his legacy lives on. Throughout this celebration of his life and work, you’ll also get the opportunity to read extracts from his poetry and prose, some of which will be very familiar but just as terrifying all the same!Show book
'The short play – very traditional to Irish theatre – is a little jewel of a structure, a lightning flash on a different world, the illumination made all the more acute by brevity' Deirdre Kinahan Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright and member of Aosdána, Ireland's elected organisation of outstanding artists. This volume brings together five of her short plays, taken from the full span of her writing career, each of them shining a light into a forgotten corner of our humanity, giving voice to irrepressible characters that the world has done its best to overlook. In Bé Carna (Tall Tales, 1999), five women reflect on their lives as prostitutes on the streets of Dublin, a dark tale inspired by true-life stories, reverberating with humanity, warmth and comic humour. In Hue & Cry(Tall Tales/Bewley's Café Theatre, 2007), two Dublin cousins, Damian and Kevin, are reunited for a family funeral in a highly charged encounter full of disillusion, denial and dark laughter. In Bogboy(Tall Tales/Solstice Arts Centre, 2010), originally written as a radio play for RTÉ, two lost souls – a young heroin addict and a reclusive middle-aged farmer – discover a budding friendship in the bogs of Meath, until a terrible secret comes to light. Wild Notes (Solas Nua, Washington D.C., 2018) explores the impact of colonialism through a meeting between Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist who visited Ireland in the 1840s, and a young Irishwoman hoping to emigrate to the country he's running from. An Old Song, Half Forgotten (Abbey Theatre, 2023) opens a window into the life and soul of an older actor who is living in care with Alzheimer's disease, rebuilding a man just as he begins to crack and fade. Winner of the inaugural Pratchett Prize for challenging the stigma of Alzheimer's Disease.Show book
An eargasm waiting for you! One Night of Intimacy is a collection of poems curated by Iisha Taylor. Each poem is playful, making you want more, and leaving room for the imagination to decide where it wants to go next. How sensual and seductive you want your night to end is left up to you! Stimulation of all of the senses is highly recommended as you take in each poem. If you are interested in poetry that goes deeper than the act of intimacy, then this collection is for you.Show book
I began writing poems in my 20's. I was motivated by 18th Century poets including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who is a relative. My wife and I moved to Oregon a few years ago and I began writing poems once again. My latest book, Reflections of Life, is comprised of love poems to my wife, Martha and many other types of poetry. My hope is that my readers will be touched by these poems.Show book
LibriVox volunteers bring you 21 recordings of The Little Star, author unknown, which parodies the previous week's children's favourite The Star. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 31st, 2013.Show book
The narrative poems in this collection are written by Sir Walter Scott - the well-known Scottish poet and novelist. Each of these five poems are based loosely upon German ballads: rewritten in flowing English meter.* The Chase - a.k.a. The Wild Huntsman - A profligate, noble-born keeper of the royal forest - avidly addicted to the pleasures of the hunt - cruelly uses and mistreats his fellow-men. One day God's messengers come to test him: executing sentence immediately in just proportion to the huntsman's responses.* William & Helen - William - long thought dead - unexpectedly returns at midnight from the crusades to marry his betrothed. Helen - relieved at his return - joyfully agree,s after initial misgivings: follows him on horseback into the night. Approaching the church in which they will celebrate their wedding: it is clear to Helen that all is not what it seems. But, with their mutual love strong enough to transcend death itself - what can possibly go wrong?* The Fire King - Count Albert never returns from crusade: having being imprisoned by Saracens. Rosalie, his betrothed, swears to leave at once for Lebanon to find him. Rosalie succeeds - but alas, all is changed between them forever: and their parting is death itself.* Frederick & Alice - Frederick breaks troth and abandons the beautiful Alice: sending her mad with grief. But Alice contrives to meet her faithless lover once more: beyond the grave.* The Erl-King - The Erl-King (or Oak-King) sings for the soul of a human boy: who cringes for dear life within the arms of his father riding home through the dreary wood. But do spirits really have power to charm away the lives of the living?(Introduction by Godsend)Show book
