In the van somewhere in Monaghan, September 18th, 2017 ‘Artificial Lake’ has been included on RTE Radio 1’s recommended playlist. Blue and White religion book skies. Scruffy fields. Sheep with blue paint tags. A horse scratching its back like a puppy rolling in the mud. We’re on a narrow road […]
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Monday June 12th, 8am. Air quality warning from 10am. What precisely are you supposed to do during an air quality warning? Take a deep breath at 9.59am? It’s 8am and I am in Prospect Park to get a few of those breaths. New York would […]
June 9th, 2017 “The Dog that didn’t bark“. “A pig’s breakfast”. The BBC are all over the animal metaphors this morning. Any news? Lordy. The DUP? Lordy, is right. The sun is shining in Brooklyn. I should be outside. I will be outside. I am working on bookings for […]
June 2nd, 2017 Yesterday I wanted to post a bunch of expletives. I still do. You know things are truly awful when the tabloids display a greater grasp of science and language than the manchild at the wheel. Today, I, a former librarian, will be singing in a bookshop. Which […]
The things people tell us. The things people don’t tell us. 11 years old Patrick took his cousin’s dog for a walk. Too loose on a faraway leash, the dog got hit by an oil truck on a country road. Devastated, 11 years old Patrick dragged its body down […]
“All your crying don’t do no good, Come on up the the house, Come down off the cross, We can use the wood, You gotta come on up to the house. “ – Tom Waits, ‘Come on Up to The House’ ( Mule Variations) Easter Sunday, April 16th, 2017 […]
March 8th, 2017 The weather remains schizophrenic. The news keeps up just fine. This morning the wind howled down the avenue and the rain tap tapped on our pre dawn window. I was woken up long before the usual rattle of traffic. It is lunchtime now. The sun is out. […]
February 25th, 2017 Cambridge, MA I read somewhere once that eavesdropping is good for writing. Hearing that gave me great freedom and shameless confidence. In eavesdropping. It is unseasonably warm. I’m in a non barducks coffee chain. An hour too early for being an hour early is two hours early […]
Orphaned Christmas trees line the footpaths. Some in clear plastic bags. Like palm tree Laura Palmers. Back in Brooklyn. I took a week off after St. Stephen’s Day. I am one year older than I was then. Now I am back at it. Organising band rehearsals is no joke. […]
Advent in Brooklyn Already two bottles of liquor on the counter at Meat Market. Customer appreciation, the Brooklyn-Italian way. It produces a feeling akin to the season’s first airing of ‘Fairytale of New York’. By Christmas week there’ll be nine or ten half empty bottles on the shelf. Hard liquor […]