Month: July 2017

In celebration.

~ Chris Black ~The Poet's Poet~ ~ 6 Comments

Yesterday I received this staggering news you have reached 500+ followers, I am truly humbled thank you. In its honour I thought it appropriate I should copy the poem which I wrote as the final poem in my book of poetry and short stories titled Same Train, Different Track, the title with which I rechristened my blog. Again many thanks and if you are interested at all the book can be purchased by visiting https://www.chrisblack2012.com

(c) Chris Black 2017. WIN_20170729_10_24_51_Pro

Neil Young, Dire Staits, The Ventures : Walk On!

~ Chris Black ~The Poet's Poet~ ~ Leave a comment

The Immortal Jukebox

‘All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking’ (Friedrich Nietzsche)

‘Walking is man’s best medicine’ (Hippocrates)

‘Well I know you heard of the old mambo
and I know you heard of the old Congo
but when you walk you’re starting to get close
and don’t step on your partners toes!
You just Walk, yea you Walk! .. Walk! Walk!’ (Jimmy McCracklin)

I’ve written previously about my Dad and me watching our favourite TV Shows on our tiny Black and White picture television with the images sometimes looking like they were beamed in from a distant planet.

A show that always held us breathless was, ‘The Fugitive’.

Would on the run Richard Kimble ever clear his name?

Was there really a ‘One armed man’?

Would Inspector Gerard ever forgo his relentless pursuit of Richard Kimble?

Pondering these questions drinking cups of strong tea and meditatively chewing on Fry’s Chocolate Cream Bars…

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Irish Mythology and W.B. Yeats

~ Chris Black ~The Poet's Poet~ ~ 2 Comments

Shadow of the Glen

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If you are interested in Irish mythology and you haven’t read the early poetry of W.B. Yeats, you really should. Through his early volumes of poetry such as The Rose and The Wind Among The Reeds he re-invented Irish mythology, making it more accessible to anyone who could read.

There is an animism to his early poetry – he brings the natural landscape to life better than any other ‘Celtic Twilight’ poet. There is also danger. His Sidhe or Danann are amoral creatures and there is the suggestion that if you hang out with them too much you run the risk of going insane.

And there is the sheer escapism of his poetry at this stage. Or maybe escapism is the wrong word. Transcendentalism might be more accurate. The early Yeats sees art as separate from reality. It exists in its own transcendent realm and this is reflected strongly in…

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Angela McCabe – Two Poems

~ Chris Black ~The Poet's Poet~ ~ Leave a comment

Re-blogged on Same Train – Different Track

Angela McCabe has worked as a Neuropsychologist. She is the 2016 winner of the Listowel Poetry Collection Competition. Several of her short stories and poems have won prizes and have appeared in various anthologies. Angela has written screen plays and made an award winning short movie and does Performance Art.
She leads cross-border women’s writing groups. Her third poetry book will be complete by the end of 2017.

Alone

Ancestors stood in the meadow
watching fire burn down the home place.
A freak accident.

Faces of family reflected
in pools of black water
Pulling me down. I almost drowned.

Dreams of women in summer frocks
cooling cakes by open windows.
Men making hay. Living through war.

The name of the house is gone,
‘Lisnaree.’ The name blows through
the azaleas I grow here in Lahard.

Begonias, geraniums and violas
talk to one another
of my mother’s green fingers.

Mine went…

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Aine Ni Mhaoileoin, An Artist is his own Fault

~ Chris Black ~The Poet's Poet~ ~ 7 Comments

Re-blogged on Same Train, Different Track.

DODGING THE RAIN

Aine Ni Mhaoileoin is a writer based in Co. Galway, Ireland. She completed her MA in Writing at NUIG in 2016. Her work has appeared in Ad Hoc Fiction, the Galway Review, Dodging The Rain and Sin. She is a co-founder and editor of Dodging The Rain, and in her spare time, she writes drama, fiction and the odd poem.

Introduction: During my MA in NUIG, I was lucky enough to meet with many established authors and artists as part of a weekly Writer’s Seminar. Hearing their wisdom about the world of writing and publishing proved to be an inspiring and fruitful exercise. As part of the course, I also attended the wonderful Cuirt festival in Galway. The following pieces are part of a series I wrote in response to these experiences and the advice I received.

             ‘An artist is his own fault.’ — John O’Hara

I

O’ Hara…

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