About me

I am a native of Limerick city, born and raised in Garryowen, (under the tower). Today I reside in Meelick, Co. Clare. My back garden is a forest of trees and a forest of thoughts. Food for poetry!

I started writing poetry at approx 19 years old possibly before, the enlightenment, the birth of consciousness. Influenced greatly by song writers, such as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Neill Young. My favourite poets are Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, (sonnets). Love the romantic poets, like Wordsworth, the war poets, Siegfried Sassoon, Willfred Owen and Robert Graves (Limerick family connection). But today i read everything poetry, love modern free verse and slam.

My own poems encompass a broad range of subject matter, eg. Current affairs, political satire, philosophy, psychology, nature and garden, social comment, grief, life and love etc, etc.

In poetry, there is a clear difference between writing and reciting. I wrote for at least 25 years before reciting. Looking back I see it as giving voice to poetry or sharing. There are many, many poets who have never recited. In many ways writing poetry is a form of self therapy. A friend and poet Tom McCarthy encouraged me to recite and i did so at the White House poetry club under Barney Sheehan, approx 2009/2010. Nerve wracking public speaking.