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Best of Irish Poetry 2010
Editor: Matthew Sweeney

Songs of Earth and Light
Barbara Korun poems translated by Theo Dorgan

Done Dating DJs
by Jennifer Minniti-Shippey
Winner, 2008 Fool for Poetry Competition

Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes

Munster Literature Centre

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PAUL Ó COLMÁIN

Paul Ó Colmáin lives and works in West Cork. He was a winner of the inaugural Poet’s Podium, 1995, run by Samhlaíocht Chiarraí and is a regular contributor of poems in both Irish and English to journals and anthologies. He is a musician, songwriter and visual artist and leads walking tours so that he can eat.

Epilogue

For Michael Hartnett

Like a wren he was,

bright and quick and brown,

head angled to miss no trick.

Hair like down

brushed, feathered

around the black bird

eyes. And what

a sound we heard

from that almost-elusive

wren-poet,

half-hidden,

giving full throat

to all he saw or felt

we missed. For any

naturalist of song

to hear. And he

flits among the brambles

of our thoughts. His song

caught, hedged `round,

a sound that proves them wrong.

©2010 Paul Ó Colmáin

Author Links

Paul Ó Colmáin home page

Ó Colmáin at MySpace, including videos

Ó Colmáin's Blog