As a kid you fed the crows in the garden behind your parents’ house. You liked that they learned not to be afraid of you over time.
A Faithful Murder
Falling Out the Right Tree
Originally publishing in Catflap magazine (November 2021) There were two reasons I became a champion tree climber as a child. Firstly, because I loved it, the shapes of the branches and glow of the leaves when the light came through, the whisper of the breeze like the promise of something magical about to happen. Secondly, …
Should I Be Writing at a Time Like This?
For every person I’ve met proclaiming the necessity for real art, I’ve met at least two more people too terrified to share their passion. Asking a young writer, still trying to find their voice in a world of such infinite mass media and “content”, to compare themselves to James Baldwin… That seems unfair. Either shape a generation or shut up? Should we be joking at a time like this?
January is for living (despite myself)
My problem stems from not knowing how to live long-term. I’ve spent most of my life holding myself together a year, a month, a day at a time, telling myself that if I can just make it to next week, things will get better. I’m hardly alone in that phenomenon, but unfortunately for me I …
Without Legal Definitions we’re Greenwashing is Inescapable
Without legally enforceable definitions of terms like “recyclable”, “eco-friendly”, and “biodegradable” we will see a never ending stream of greenwashing advertising selling us the exact same product
Less Loveable Lifeforms Like Me
Celebrate saving the less charismatic Write odes to plankton, snail and flies, Our love of birds and mammals may be automatic, But we struggle to value lichen in our lives. It's harder to sing of fungi than of tigers, Hard to remember the worm in the earth, Diversity means algae as much as flowers So …
Do Fantasy Writers Think Irish is Discount Elvish?
A popular cousin of the “terrible English accent by an American actor in a fantasy movie” is the “this elvish thing is kinda Irish but only whatever I remember about Ireland from that one Wiccan girl I dated in college”. Why does how Irish language and mythology is used in Western Fantasy matter? It is …
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An gCeapann Údair Fantaisíocht Nach Bhfuil sa Ghaeilge ach “Elvish” Lascainithe
Tá gaol gairid idir an t-aisteoir Meiriceánach a chuireann blas Sasanach air féin i scannán fantaisíochta agus an scríbhneoir a deir leis féin “is Gaeilge de shaghas éigin í an Ealbhais seo, ach níl inti ach an méid is cuimhin liom gcailín Wicca sin ar shiúil mé amach léi san ollscoil”. Cén fáth a bhfuil …
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Watch It Burn
I have always watched fires burn. As a child, playing with matches Older, piling the wood in the grate better than my dad Later as a circus performer until my knees got bad I have always stopped and watched Captured by the heat And the flicker bittersweet. Bruno Kelly (Reuters) Man Working in a Burning …
Advice for Girls Burnt as Witches in Past Lives
Advice for girls who wake up smelling smoke: the fire isn’t lit yet, And if they come to take you to the pyre scratch every bit of them you can get. Even executioners have eyes. I’d advise you to drink honey in the mornings to keep your voice sweet No one came when you screamed …
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Orla ní Dhúill 