Stubborn Heart
No one tells you how heavy
your own name will feel
when you’re old enough to carry it alone.
You wake up early, not from purpose,
but from worry—
a low hum behind the ribs
that says be more, be better, be faster.
They call you young like it’s a gift,
but youth is a room with bare walls
and a clock that never stops tapping.
You’re told you have time
while time keeps asking what you’ve done with it.
Your hands want to build something solid,
but the ground keeps shifting—
jobs that vanish, dreams that shrink,
mirrors that ask if you’re enough yet.
You learn to swallow fear quietly.
To laugh when you’re tired.
To act certain while guessing in the dark.
Strength becomes a performance
you’re afraid to stop giving.
Love feels like a test you didn’t study for,
and failure feels permanent
even when everyone swears it isn’t.
You carry ambition in one pocket,
self-doubt in the other,
and both weigh the same.
Still—you get up.
Still—you try.
Still—somewhere between the bruises
and the small victories,
you become someone worth rooting for.
And maybe that’s the truth of it:
being a young man isn’t about knowing the way,
but walking it anyway
with shaking hands
and a stubborn heart
that refuses to quit.
The Ladder
There’s a ladder in every Irish town,
nailed together from laughs and reputations,
leaning against the wall of the schoolyard
by the floodlit pitch after class.
The top lads climb easy,
boots muddy, voices loud,
their names echoing like chants
off cold concrete and parked cars.
Middle lads hover on the rungs,
hands steady, eyes forward,
knowing when to speak
and when silence keeps you safe.
And some of us stand below,
looking up through the gaps,
feeling the weight of every step
we’re told not to take.
But ladders rot in the rain.
Time loosens the nails.
And when the crowd drifts home,
what holds you up isn’t height —
it’s what you’re made of.
Together, broken
Childhood is described as a rollercoaster,
Up, down, around, but always landing on your feet.
To me, it feels more like a toaster,
Zapping my energy, constantly turning up the heat.
My sister might consider it a double edged sword;
Slicing through her like a torpedo through water.
My brother has it worst, stomping on him til he’s floored.
And all the while, through all this slaughter,
We keep our heads up, keep our lungs open.
Not out of bravery, not out of guilt.
But out of the fact that we are together, broken.
I love my mam
My earliest memories are them arguing.
Loud screaming, shouting, fighting.
That was my normal for the longest time.
Then she was gone.
He took me into a room, sat me down
and said ‘We wont see her for a while’.
I thought a while was a week,
but that turned to two, then four,
until I hadn’t seen her for a year.
She chose alcohol over me, over us.
We were her kids but a 12 hour high was better.
She was in rehab. She was struggling. She sorted her life out for us. For our family.
I love my mam. And the struggles shes faced.
And sacrifices she made. I wouldn’t want her another way.
So Alone
I was alone so alone
I wanted to leave it all behind
I wanted to believe I could see
I wish I could sail away
I wish I could drive it away
all of it away
I was so afraid
I wanted to cry
I wanted it to be me and no one else
I wish I could fly away
I wish I could drive it away
I wish I could just go
Stories
The stories that haven’t been told
The silent battles that play over in the mind
The stories that are frozen out
But if you look hard enough the stories you will find
I wish
I come from a house which is layered with two languages, two I wish I never understood , every argument trapped in a house I wish I never had to stand with, words that touch so deeply it had to separate since two words couldn’t combine, I’m not talking about words, I wish I was.
Walking In The Dark
Trying to walk home in the dark but worrying if your ponytail is easy to grab
Trying to walk home in the dark but getting an Air Tag notification
Trying to walk home in the dark but constantly looking behind you
Trying to walk home in the dark but turning down your music in case you can’t hear someone behind you.
Older Siblings
A sibling is your built in best friend from day one
Your number one supporter
They cheer so loud you don’t notice who wasn’t
They teach you more about life than you learn in school
An older sibling is your person that you can talk to when you can’t talk to your parents
No one should ever outlive their older sibling
I come from my relationship with my sibling.
A place
I live in a place where being locked in a building for seven hours is normal
I live in a place of clouds and rain
I live in a place where everyone knows everyone knows everything about everyone
I live in place where parents control our lives till we leave
I live in a place that has dreams but has a dull future
I live in a place that at the end of the day I love
I live in a place that after everything is my home
I live in a place that I can’t wait to leave.
Someday
I come from love but still feel lost, I have hard times but know myself but yet still feel insecure, I love love but can’t feel. I want to grow up but yet want to stay like this forever, I fear the future but trust my life. I regret and grow, grow and grow. To hope I will be who I want to be someday.
Pure Happiness
It amazes me that one small decision can make such a big impact.
If we hadn’t gotten on the earliest bus out of there we wouldn’t have met them.
If we hadn’t met them I don’t think I’d know what actual happiness feels like.
I went years and years thinking all I was feeling was happiness but really I was just living.
And then we met and every second was bliss.
Every call was full of laughter.
Every text sent with care.
Every moment spent together was pure comfort.
Now even though it’s ended I’m still glad it happened.
Because I now know not to settle for less than someone who makes me feels pure happiness.
Dreams
Everywhere, not just school
Dreams, not just reality as it is presently.
Upbeat, not monotonous.
Celebrated, not feared.
Appealing, not worrying.
Thinking for yourself, not accepting everything as gospel.
Interested, not obligated.
Open to everyone, not just those who are fortunate.
Not like this, but should be.
Disappointed
I find myself disappointed with how most boys my age act.
Whether it concerns girls, school work, discrimination or their own future.
They seem to be completely vacant in their minds on how they view their futures and education.
But then there comes a nagging in the back of my mind. Why am I the only one who thinks this?
Am I too serious? Do I need to loosen up? Am I the problem because I nag people to cop on and show up to school? Life is confusing at the moment but this workshop has helped me open my mind to new ideas and how people feel and function.
Won’t define me
I remember sitting in a hospital bed at 8 years old being told my life had flipped upside down, I don’t remember anything after that but the feeling of wanting to disappear and the feeling of ringing in me ears and hoping if I didn’t accept it it would go away but that was not the case the hardest part was not understanding how this could happen to someone who had a mam that made sure I was always healthy, I felt like I had to done something that needed me to be punished, my whole life I’ve always wanted to be the best at everything I did and being told I was gonna have to stop a lot of sports and hobbies until I got in control of my disease, all I wanted to do was scream as I felt so hopeless I’ve never liked being told what I can and can’t do and knowing that was gonna be all I was told for the rest of my life made me want to go insane, the past 8 years of my life with this illness has been a challenge everyday not only effecting my life but the people around me but the one thing I can say is that will never let this illness ever define the person I want to be and the things I can achieve.
Gloves
Walking through the door to see
Sharp eyes and quiet whispers stabbing at me
My fist balls and my jaw clenches
As the nervous sweat falls from my temple
I lace up my gloves to show true
A version of myself I think is new
I come from…
i come from freckles, i come from being tall, i come from Kilkenny, i come from sensitivity, i come from playing games, i come from bad birthdays, i come from sickness, i come from walks, i come from personal space, i come from art, i come from self care, i come from strong emotions, i come from communication, i come from overthinking, i come from my shyness, i come from being disrespected.
I know
I know
We all have reasons for hiding
people may say they don’t hide a thing
But what’s not shown speaks more than what is
I hear
It all
But I don’t understand
I listen
to people we love saying things that shouldn’t be said
Hoping
That someday the world will grow up
But we don’t have long.
And
I think
Again
Fit in
From my broken nails to my dead hair,
From my dry skin to my clothes that tear,
It’s truly sad how much work we put in,
Just to be told we don’t fit in.
Boom
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Couldn’t go down this road of gloom
Boom
Nearly on the road to doom
On a witches broom
Vroom.
From Love
I come from days playing on the street
I come from early access to the internet
I come from late nights of parents partying
I come from a crying mother and a shouting dad
I come from substance abuse and absence
but at the end I come from Love.
If I Told Them
If only they understood
If I explained would they listen?
I know deep down they would
And realise what they’ve been missin’
If I told them about us
The us they never saw
Would they still make a fuss?
Would the ice ever thaw?
If I told them that I missed you
And the fact you kept me sane
If I told them I’d still talk to you
If they didn’t hate his name.
That is me
I’ve been that kid who is seen as the kind person
But not the person who boys want to be with
I’ve watched my friends be able to be with whoever they want
But that’s not me.
I’m the person who sits on the side-lines
Wishes that they could be able to do that
But that’s not the reality
Because that’s not me.
It sometimes left me lonely
It sometimes made me feel as if I was stupid
I was the one boys laughed at
But that’s not me
Not the true me who my family and friends see.
I’ve always been the tallest girl in the class
The one who sticks out like a sore thumb
Wishing I was smaller
But I’m not small, I’m tall because that is me.
I’m the person who tries to be kind
Who tries to care for people
Who doesn’t need to be popular
The person I am with my family and friends
Because that is me.
That’s the me I want to be
That’s the true me.
Thanks, g’luck
I’m writing a poem, in a caravan i roam, post office every Tuesday, go to Carlow on holiday. If there was work in the bed, id sleep on the ground. Thanks, g’luck.
Listed
Rooster spuds
Carrots
Turnips
Chicken fillet
Garlic
Red onion
Milk
Eggs
Lunch
I get a fillet roll at lunch
Spicy chicken sure is a munch,
Bit of lettuce bit of cheese
Squirt of taco sauce please.
A roll and a drink all for a fiver,
If I drop in the river I turn into a diver.
iPad
I looked down
In my arms a small puppy with big ears and sharp teeth
She is all yours. A present for being brave
I should have got an iPad.
The witch
I eat straight mush
And sometimes forget to flush
I have a lot of glue
And wear 1 pointy shoe
I’m scared of the witch
She’ll leave my limbs in a ditch
She has a cauldron of the stew
And nose pointy like Gru.