Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page
| If you have a poem you'd like to see published in The Irish Examiner then send it to:
The Poetry Corner
The Irish Examiner USA
1040 Jackson Avenue, Third Floor
Long Island City
NY 11101
or, preferably, you can email it direct to
ronniemcginn@eircom.net.
If possible keep your poem to 20 lines. You may choose any subject you like, in any form you like as long as it's original. We look forward to hearing from you. |
In the world of poetry there is another universe behind the words that give poetry an ever-on-going-ness.
It is here we find freshness, original thought and sometimes an emotional experience that can haunt our dreams long after we've finished reading the poem.
Our poem this week comes from M. Kelly Lombardi of Roque Bluffs, Maine. She credits her love of teaching and writing to Lizzie O'Brien her Mayo Grandmother.
She has extensive poetry credits in literary magazines throughout the USA as well as Ireland and Italy. Her first book of poetry was about an Augustinian Monastery in Tuscany.
Abandoned House in Irishtown
There are some houses
which shouldn't be left
for they have souls
and they weep
for their families
and wait for them
to return and warm the hearth,
and let the house sing again.
This is such a house;
I feel it
in the sturdy depth
of the windowsills
that once knew the cheer of
bric-a-brac red geranium
filled pots and calico
cats that curled and purred
around them in the sun.
I see it in the strong bog oak
mantel that housed his pipe,
her treasured wedding photo,
the postcards from the kids,
who left to go across the sea,
the faded Mass cards, the
wooden crucifix.
And, over against the far wall,
the blue and yellow dresser,
a little tip-tilty, but
still sprightly -
a well corseted
slightly shabby dowager-
waits with its shelves
outstretched like arms ready
to embrace and welcome
the family's bits and pieces
home again.
© M. Kelly Lombardi
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