Category Archives: font

THE TIES THAT BIND The morning after you left I drew the curtains on the seven-acre field. Two hares were bowling through the stubble, wind-blown, skidding like broken wheels. They danced and sprung apart and danced again and then were … Continue reading →

Heart Sutra 1. IF I PRAYED (for R, R and M) Dream and fable, the dark that lies on your eyes, or the busy stars that celebrate the open window, this basket of love that binds you – may they … Continue reading →

DJ and Doug MacGowan, summer 2019. Guitarist, banjoist, singer and songwriter Doug and I have been musical compadres for many years and now with my partner Emma Semple on violin and viola we’re putting together a trio, as yet unnamed. … Continue reading →

“Education, education, education!” Tony Blair cried 22 years ago as we were promised root and branch change within primary and secondary schools. And there was a massive financial investment in education resulting in a significant increase in the number of … Continue reading →

In the summer of 2002 Emma and I took an isolated house in a small inlet along Bertraghboy Bay between Cashel and Roundstone in Connemara. There was electricity and running water, albeit of a peaty brown, but no mobile phone … Continue reading →

MR MOORE’S WALL-CLOCK Mr Moore lived on his own in a lean-to shack (two-roomed and shingle-boarded) at the back of the barn where Grandad kept his car. Clad with roofing felt and thick with tar that bubbled in the sun, … Continue reading →

With age comes impermanence. It’s always there, of course, but back then it’s a football team’s trajectory of success, the potted plant that you want to make it past autumn, your child’s delight in things that are not of this … Continue reading →