The Home Place

For Night Light – Rathangan
by Dorothy Smith,
Hidden Histories
13 Sept – 9 Oct 2009






The Home Place





….sure is good to talk to you Brigid…
….you look after the old home place…
….boy we all sure do love that place…
….such memories….




Such memories.
Such memories.
Here am I living in your memories,
in the damp floors,
in the dark parlour where
I alone waked our mam,
in the pokey bedroom
with the flicky street light
The Home place,
where the heart is,
the broken heart





Martin Swords
Wicklow Writers
Poetry Day
October 1st 2009

N81 Late March

For N81

By Dorothy Smith.

Hidden Histories

13 Sept. – 9 Oct. 2009

N81 Late March

two hundred thousand three hundred and twenty five

two hundred thousand three hundred and twenty six

two hundred thousand three hundred and twenty seven

two hundred thousand three hundred and twenty eight

too many snowflakes to count, a confounding softness

traffic peters to nothing, silence rushes in

pale quiet spreads and settles softly on the ground

a white van, swanlike, glides slowly towards Tullow

I cannot count the flakes, I count the footsteps missing in the snow

the Byrne boys in Birmingham, Billy, gone to Glasgow,

all of the Powers except Granny Power, still next door

Imelda, who I always liked, with the black baby, gone, somewhere

N81, this feckin’ road leads everywhere and nowhere

taking, always taking, never bringing back

a few hours peaceful, in its coat of bridal white

soon it will revert to lonely emigration black

Martin Swords

September 2009

Wicklow Writers

Poetry Day

October 1^st 2009

The Courthouse Arts Centre

Tinahely

Co. Wicklow