“Poetry contains almost all you need to know about life. This trinity of sound, sense and sensibility, to me gives voice to experience like no other literary art form…without poetry I would have found life less comprehensible, less bearable and infinitely less enjoyable.”
— Josephine Hart
These moving sentiments were written by author and Mullingar childhood friend Josephine Hart (Lady Saatchi). I am taking the liberty of adopting them to introduce this Poetry and Practice section to our website. While the experience of the pandemic has changed our lives irrevocably, poetry and art can surely provide consolation and inspiration in this time of uncertainty. To fully experience any poem, we must stop whatever we’re doing and give it our full and gracious attention, start to finish, just as the poet did when writing it. So, we hope that the poems we feature below – poems you choose – can give all of us a much-needed space to reflect on our lives and challenge us to take things to a deeper level. – Kevin Nugent
Shovelling Memere’s Walkway for Two Dollars – Normand Carrey
The Journey – Cheryl D. Breslin
El poema de Malika – Malika Jafri
Invitación – Emily Lawton
Para el bebé en el refugio antibombas – Aoife Twohig
Fuera de la historia – Anne-Marie Casey
Toma nocturna – Aoife Twohig
Oración antes de nacer – Emily Hills
Swimming the Consciousness of Long Lake – Normand Carrey
El camino no tomado – Steve Michelson
Testimonio – Lise McAlaney
Sé el cambio por la artista estadounidense Whitney Austin – Eurnestine Brown
Cianotipia – Jennifer Harrison
Te quiero tal como eres – Joanna Hawthorne
Ver a un bebé – Cathy O’Sullivan
La Catedral de Arenisca – Sarah Roehrich
The Mystery of a Newborn – Nancy Deacon
Poema sin título de ‘Uno: Hijos e hijas’ – Elizabeth Kennedy
El Castillo Mágico – Kerim M. Munir
Para el nuevo bebé – Jennifer Harrison
V'ahavta – Alicia Lieberman
Barcos de papel – Aditi Subramaniam
Aire y agua – Jayne Singer
Quiero que me abracen – Niels Warren
About “The Newborn” – Drina Candilis-Huisman
Una victoria de Back End – Susan Nicolson
PLEASURES – Deborah Weatherston
Sobre los niños – Lise Johnson
Cuando la noche se llena de salidas prematuras – Constance Keefer
Las canciones de un tipo sentimental – Campbell Paul
El baño del recién nacido – Arietta Slade