Category Archives: ireland

The Far West Of Ireland

March 16, 2024 – 3:16 am

My grandmother came from County Mayo. Her last name was Walsh. Nana sailed to Boston at the age of fourteen. That ocean voyage was so traumatic that she never returned to Ireland. My mother and her sisters often offered to fly Nana to Shannon. “I don’t want to travel on that sea again.” “Planes don’t […]

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A MOTHER’S LAST WISH by Peter Nolan Smith

May 13, 2023 – 10:39 am

After Christmas 1997 my mother entered the final stages of her battle with cancer. These last rounds were not a pretty site, but her beauty remained intact to the end. Several days after the New Year my mother held my hand and said, “I’m so happy I made Christmas.” “Me too.” I thought about John […]

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Ireland – ELK BOOKS The Last Issue

May 6, 2023 – 8:49 am

Jocko Weyland has published his last issue of ELK and included an excerpt from my journal entries from my long stay in the West of Ireland. 1997. Ballyconneely. Twenty-five years ago. Yeah, Todd and my stay in Ballyconneely was weird. September was fine ,but October grew grim and November the rains struck with a sodden […]

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EASTER 1916 – YEATS

April 9, 2023 – 5:45 am

EASTER 1916 I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod of the head Or polite meaningless words, Or have lingered awhile and said Polite meaningless words, And thought before I had done Of a mocking tale or […]

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Spring Equinox 2021

March 20, 2023 – 1:43 am

This year was a so-so winter. Snow came late in Marcu and the bitter cold was a rare visitor to the City That Never Sleeps. On several occasions I exited from the 387 Commune in my ski gear, which was good for -20 Fahrenheit. Today the thermometer hit 60 and I celebrated the Spring Equinox […]

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