No Guarantees (Poem)

On this, the second anniversary of the death of Seamus Heaney, I thought I’d share a poem I’d written, inspired by one he’d written. This is called No Guarantees, Inspired by Elegy for the Stillborn Child.

 

Some things we take for granted

Like having a long, healthy life

Some things we assume, we’ll naturally receive

When the allotted time scrolls around

Like jobs, relationships, kids

Some things we consider

Even more guaranteed than that

Like birth, death, and taxes

Or the fact that death will always follow birth

But sometimes even facts fail us.

Book Launch Wrap Up

Book Launch Cake My book launch for Four Season Summer went ahead as planned at the end of last month, and I’d very much call it a success. The venue (Scooby Brew Cafe, Bangor) was filled to capacity, there was cake, readings, and signings. It was even in the local newspaper (County Down Spectator, Bangor Edition, Page 60).

Below is a video of the readings I did – two from Four Season Summer, and a poem from my first book, Still Dreaming. I stumbled a bit over reading the first section, because there were children present, and I was trying to censor/tone down some bits on the fly. But you get the general idea.