Tinteán

Sounds of a country track

 By Maria Wallace

The afternoon brims with
word sounds, with the spirit
of this place and hour.

On one side, sun-baked wild oats play
faint maraca music at wind’s whim;
on the other, canes whisper

by a dried up stream: thier speech
isn’t everyday talk: old mysteries resonate
in their reedy throats. Rain prayer

murmurs bounce from tree to tree.
Scurrying lizards’ feet
creak over dry grass.

The whirl of a metal sunflower windmill
cuts the sky’s shimmer, wills
water for thirsty fields.

Above the swallow’s chirping, cicadas
deafen the air. Bees hum
a pollen laden effort.

Dusty tracks under my feet; on them
lines shape themselves, fill
their own spaces, become afternoon.

My word sounds are those
of the ordinary;
this moment is not, and I hold it tight.

Maria Wallace was born in Catalonia and has been awarded many poetry prizes over the past 20 years.  She has been published in anthologies, journals and newspapers around the world and is the founder of Virginia House Creative Writers Group (1996). She lives in Tallaght Co Dublin.

Life

By Mervyn Ennis

country track

 Life’s a beaten track
of places
of thought
Of word
and deed.
We tenant this wondrous place
retracing forgotten footprints
through a tapestry of memories
threadbare on borrowed time
We re-embroider
old woes and new joys
with fresh seasonal colours
in today’s yarns and patterns

Mervyn Ennis has an M. A. from University College Dublin in Social Work.   He is married to Margaret and they have four adult children and three grandchildren.

From Branches – Poetry at the Grange Book Club, compiled by Joseph Murphy.