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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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JOHN LIDDY

John Liddy, born in County Cork but raised in Limerick, is a poet whose collections include Wine and Hope/Vino y Esperanza (1999, Archione Editorial Madrid), Cast-a-Net (2003, Archione Editorial Madrid), The Well: New and Selected Poems (2007, Revival Press). Most recent book is Gleanings (2010, Revival Press). He co-founded The Stony Thursday Book with Jim Burke and edits occasional issues. Liddy currently lives in Madrid, where he works as a teacher/librarian. He also runs the annual poetry festival An Tobar/El Manantial, along with Matthew Loughney and the Embassy of Ireland.

Photo ©Pilar Gutierrez

A Tea Towel

for Milagros

After each visit we looked back

from the road across the field

to delight in you waving us home

with a tea towel I wished

we could have waved for you.

But not one for travel,

you held your own destination

in the privacy of your mind,

lighting up at its mention

especially at Christmas time

Surrounded by your brood,

whose curiosity for stories

about their gaditana origins

beside the Ocean,

knew no end.

Never a cross word

between us, we are more

than friends, and those casual

chats in the Robledo kitchen

were exactly the right ingredients

For when we would look

out the high window

to allow thought roam,

contemplate a tea towel 

waving both of us home.

©2010 John Liddy

Author Links

'In the Heart of Two Countries': Interview with Liddy at EuropeanIrish.com

Liddy reading at Limerick's White House (YouTube)

Revival Press page on Liddy