Happy to announce I've joined the team at Strokestown International Poetry Festival!
Get your entries in for the competition, judged by the mighty @rachaelhegarty.bsky.social. The prize is €1,000 and the closing date is 6th Feb! More details on website.
strokestownpoetryfest.ie/meet-the-team/
I was in Co. Clare last weekend for the mighty Doolin Writers' Weekend. Thanks to the organisers for giving me a reading. Rinne mé ceardlann gaeilge freisin. Bhí an-craic againn!
Brilliant poem. Congratulations, Hayden!
Morning!
After a couple years of working away in the world of lino, I've now launched my online print shop:
bramblewoodstudioart.etsy.com
If you could give it a heart, a share and/ or a follow I'd really appreciate it.
Happy New Year!
Aoife
As we countdown to 2026, a look back to some of the poetic gems of 2025 💎💙
eatthestorms.com/2025/12/31/a...
Cover of Blood Atlas is a large brown ship coming out of the ocean. The cover is cream.
PITCH FOR THICKER THAN WATER I have this idea for a screenplay: one day, the UN severs all familial ties on Earth, and people are free to choose relatives. Our hero, estranged from his son, endeavours to re-apply for the role of dad. But then, he hears news that his son has already filed for a new dad a teacher, sports coach, a friend's dad - and this breaks his heart. A plot twist occurs midway through our family feature when he considers where his own father is; the old fart is in a nursing home somewhere, staring at a dirty wall. So, our protagonist enrols as a janitor at this facility-a montage shows him cleaning shit along a narrow hall until he starts to steal moments of confused tranquillity in the old man's room, joining him to study a wall stain shaped like Dún Laoghaire's pier, where, one morning, the old man forced a 99 on them to numb a silent pain. The film ends as the son from the start, without warning, turns up with ice cream ... but real life isn't that breezy, I know. I just like that this dumb little script could allow three troubled men to admit they could have gone easy on each other, without knowing when, or knowing how.
Poem-a-day advent calendar 🎁 Day 18 is 'Pitch for Thicker than Water' from 'Blood Atlas' by @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social 🌹 @arlenhouse.bsky.social
Cover of Spaight's book is a painting featuring blues, reds and black, there are flickers of white in the blue
MY GRANDMOTHER'S KITCHEN: Sketch at 8 Wooden as a string puppet, my grandfather lies in the white ruffles and lace of the coffin. My mother touches his face as though she decodes the parchment-like skin of his unselfing. A croak like the original tremor of language rises from the women dressed in black who beetle through the room. Other voices merge, an almost sweet sound like a hive's hum; a storm brewing - only to falter as each woman surrenders and keens from her own sorrow. I'm high on lemonade. Candlelit shadows mount the walls, blot part of us into the dark. I'm afraid and want to go home. My mother is unlike my mother: she is like a fish in a shoal, the pressure sense of their bodies creating a contour that twists and turns; their world sealed. Face after face could be hers: my first time to sense she belongs only there.
🎁 Poem-a-day advent calendar 🎁 Day 12 is 'My Grandmother's Kitchen' from 'Watching for the Hawk' by @bredaspaight.bsky.social 💖 @arlenhouse.bsky.social
An-bhróduil as mo dhán nua gaeilge atá foilsithe in "Aneas". My first Irish language poem published in the @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social journal. Buíochas leis an eagarthóir Simon Ó Faoláin.
Very fair! Thank you for all you do for our community of writers.
Launched "Blood Atlas" at the Irish Secretariat in Belfast last night, alongside new work from these other fine writers - Celia de Fréine, Ruth Carr, Deirdre Cartmill and Csilla Toldy. Thanks to @arlenhouse.bsky.social and the audience for coming out to support new irish poetry!
A special highlight of my US trip to read poetry at Consulate General of Ireland, Chicago, with fiddler Seán Cleland. Thanks to the Consulate team and Chicago Sister Cities for organising and hosting. @arlenhouse.bsky.social
Thanks to DePaul University Chicago for inviting me to read some poems for the students yesterday. A beautiful Autumn day in the city.
Reading in DeKalb, Illinois, with Eamonn Wall as part of MWACIS 25 last night. Thanks to Class VI for their hospitality and to Sean Farrell for the invitation!
Had a pop-up reading at @carleton.edu, Minnesota yesterday. Edgar Allan Poe showed up! Thanks to students and staff of the English Department.
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
Visiting University of Notre Dame, Indiana, last week. Poetry reading and Q&A hosted by @ndirishstudies.bsky.social. A joy to speak to the students, especially those who are studying gaeilge. Bhí sé iontach gaeilge a labhairt leis na daltaí. @arlenhouse.bsky.social
I'm reading poetry from "Blood Atlas" in Chicago at Consulate General of Ireland on Oct 21st. Featuring music from Seán Cleland. In association with Chicago Sister Cities International. Registration open at www.ireland.ie/en/usa/chica...
@arlenhouse.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social
I will be visiting @notredame.bsky.social next week to kick off a series of events for "Blood Atlas" in the Midwest. Thank you to @ndirishstudies.bsky.social for the invitation!
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
irishstudies.nd.edu/events/2025/...
Join @aoifelyall.bsky.social to celebrate the release of a new pamphlet! Details below.
Pamphlet launch event: The Man Who Made Up Trees by Michael Greavy Tickets, Wed, Oct 1, 2025 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite share.google/HLOJ2FjNASfk...
A treat to read at "The Poetry Lounge" in Waterford yesterday, with John Noonan and D'or Seifer. Thanks to Ger Duffy for organising and the close reading of "Blood Atlas" for the Q&A. Cheers to Catherine for the photos and @poetryireland.bsky.social for sponsoring. @arlenhouse.bsky.social
Join us at Clifden Arts Festival on the 23rd Sept! Great to be part of the 2025 edition of this historic fest with other poets whom I so deeply admire.
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
From today's Irish Times. Thank you to editor Gerry Smyth. From "Blood Atlas" (Arlen House, 2025)
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
Great to be guest poet for a group of visiting students from @carleton.edu MN at Trinity College yesterday. We read from "Blood Atlas" and discussed the poems. @arlenhouse.bsky.social
From "Blood Atlas" (2025), pub. @arlenhouse.bsky.social
At the Irish Writers Centre earlier this week for a reading with Lauren O'Donovan, Afric McGlinchey, D'or Seifer and S.C. Flynn.
Thanks to Damien Donnelly for organising this, it was a lovely event. Great to see some friends and poetic colleagues in the audience.
This week, we held our first Writers Showcase at the @irishwriterscentre.bsky.social
Find out all about @scyflynn.bsky.social @itosha.bsky.social @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social @laurenodonovanw.bsky.social & D'or Seifer in our blog
irishwriterscentre.ie/writers-show...
NEW WRITERS SHOWCASE SERIES!
🌟Spotlighting newly published writers across the island of Ireland🌟
Our first event will feature five poets from various parts of Ireland.
🗓️Wed 18 June 2025
🕣6.30-8.30pm
📍Irish Writers Centre, Dublin
🎟️ €5 (via Eventbrite)
irishwriterscentre.ie/whats-on/wri...
Thanks so much to everyone who came to hear @itosha.bsky.social & @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social launch their new collections with Anne Tannam on Sunday @arlenhouse.bsky.social @salmonpoetry.bsky.social
Double poetry launch ! 2pm tomorrow with poetry from Afric McGlinchy, @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social & Anne Tannam: booksupstairs.ie/all-events/launch-mcglinchey-morgan/
Cover of book. Luke Morgan. Blood Atlas. Winner of The Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Ward. Arlen House. Colour drawing of a galleon ship in full sail.
Looking forward to reading my newest poetry purchase @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social @arlenhouse.bsky.social @booksupstairs.bsky.social
Dublin launch 14:00 Sunday next, 1st June at Books Upstairs. Congratulations Luke!
Thanks to John Morley on Galway Bay FM for having me on the show to discuss "Blood Atlas"!
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
