I see
A bartender as focused as an air traffic controller,
A bustling street with no street signs,
A Grafton Street busker who could fill a stadium,
A stream wetting a peat field,
A wizened train clerk nodding directions,
A shot of Jamieson swirling in a glass,
An Abbey actress playing emotions like a clarinet,
A slippery mountainside covered in moss,
A comic bombing in a half-empty club,
A streetlight reflecting off the Liffey,
A house band playing the same songs over,
A ewe grazing beside the highway,
A spraytanned girl in line at Coppers,
An abbey with doors open 800 years later,
A congenial plumber fixing the toilet,
A cold lake as smooth as crystal,
A migrant worker making another sandwich,
A tricolor rippling in the wind,
A homeless man shaking his cup,
A rainbow I can touch the end of,
A bus driver racing against time,
And you.
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I was to write a free verse poem and originally I wrote one analogous to Ginsberg’s America, but I was told by a sharp reader that it seemed too hostile, even coarse. I decided to write another at the last minute on the train ride home from Connemara, and began with a list of visual images of Ireland, some poached from my original poem. After I’d compiled my list, I typed it up and split it into “people” on the left and “things” on the right, and thought of adding another category. Still, it wasn’t a poem, as there was nothing to hang these images around. I had the idea to write “I see” at the start and “and you” at the end, and I think this has a striking and personal effect, great for its simplicity. Dr. Perry and Eunika commented that it was their favourite poem of mine thus far. This highlights the value of striking imagery, accessibility, and quiet power over more technical, old-fashioned efforts.
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I was to write a free verse poem and originally I wrote one analogous to Ginsberg’s America, but I was told by a sharp reader that it seemed too hostile, even coarse. I decided to write another at the last minute on the train ride home from Connemara, and began with a list of visual images of Ireland, some poached from my original poem. After I’d compiled my list, I typed it up and split it into “people” on the left and “things” on the right, and thought of adding another category. Still, it wasn’t a poem, as there was nothing to hang these images around. I had the idea to write “I see” at the start and “and you” at the end, and I think this has a striking and personal effect, great for its simplicity. Dr. Perry and Eunika commented that it was their favourite poem of mine thus far. This highlights the value of striking imagery, accessibility, and quiet power over more technical, old-fashioned efforts.
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