The Haunting Silence
The screams and cries
That echo and bounce
Fear upon their faces
Of children.
A generation judged
For their looks and religion
The corridors of power
To brainwash a nation
Stripped of their pride and dignity
And put in a “shower room”
To bring them to the next life
Silence…
Poison vapours rise
Terror mouthing
Silent screams
Kieran Packer
Puppetry
What the mind whispers,
We will listen to and have engraved
Upon our psyche.
A hopeless mission to seize control.
But nobody ever comes close.
It seems to be a struggle
Against our own thoughts.
But why is it?
Considering we are just a body,
Controlled by uncontrollable
Chemical reactions produced by your brain.
Jake Fairbrother
Is it Real?
We come here every day,
Surrounded by our “friends”.
Surrounded by the people who pretend they care.
But really, what is it?
A mind game to make you believe
That what the two of you have is pure.
But to me, it’s nothing.
It is just something to get us through the day.
Because the moment that we leave this place,
This place where we’re all friends.
We no longer pretend that its real.
Anon
Crying and Shouting
The crying and the shouting
The hurt and the pain
No one can find out
What you whisper
In the rain
Hide it all with a smile
Behind your Instagram
No one can ever know
What happens deep down
Ciara Lavelle
The Game
The size 5 ball gets batted out to the fielders
Balls are caught bases are tagged
People are cheering
Linesmen flagged
The ref calls out
The argument begins
Mothers and fathers
Sip cold gins
Sitting in their camping chairs
Bright umbrellas
No one cares
Those cold dark evenings
In the rain
It all pays off
The work and pain
Ellen McGuire
The Moment when you Learned to Cope
The daydreams and the laughter,
Raging screams that boil with anger.
Tears running down your cheeks
Mascara stained your pillows, sheets.
The sleepovers and endless fun,
A double bed only has one.
Those lonely nights you could not sleep,
Midnight dreams of endless deep.
Dancing shadows and broken toys,
Phone screens smashed texting boys
Whispered prayers, unspoken hope
The moment when you learned to cope
Aoibheann Feeney
Dreams
Dreams came through
Where goals were scored
And points were taken
The home crowd roared
Where the cup was raised
And the locals cheered
As they filled their cup
With ice cold beers
And sang champions
Aine Weir
Sleepless Nights
The late cold sleepless nights
With not a single star in sight
The growling machines
At their work
The cows are calving
In the dirt
Walking out into the storm
Trembling in the dark
Naoise Moylan
No Man’s Land
Where men perished,
Outside the trenches,
Their brains all fried.
On no man’s land,
Their battle cries
No waving of a white flag
To bind their loose ties
Their lives were taken
As quick as the tide goes out
Yet they continue
Thrusting bayonets
Without the shadow of a doubt
In no man’s land
Where the youngest
And the bravest died,
The broken hearted
And the fallen
The bloody and the teary-eyed
Kelly
The Bell
We start the long hard 5-day week
Bright and early till late afternoon
As drained and worn out as can be
Exhausted, nothing we can do
But wish for the weekend to come
To drag us away from school
Watching time drag each day to day
The bell cannot ring too soon
Bethany Dowd O’Brien
I Scored
I scored my first goal for Dromore Villa
I was running with the ball
Then a quick one-two
Slide tackled in the box
When the ball played through
I got a spot kick
Had a row about the taker
I stepped up like a legend
Made a fool out of the keeper
The manager roared
I scored the winning goal
We were champions that day
We were on a winning role
Jack Somers
Summer Holidays
There was a cool summer breeze.
School was long over.
Spent most of my time
Dossing around
Picking clovers.
I looked like a clown
Though I didn’t really care
Cos it bet learning nothing
Sitting in a wooden chair
Dominic Mcshane
The Bench
This is the bench where she sat alone
As I watched her head hang low
I wished I asked her what was wrong
But when I looked again she would be gone
I should have helped her out
With all the names they used to shout
But I was a coward just like the rest
And now we have lost one of the best.
Anon
First Steps
Your very first steps into the world
Of light and happiness
Before your very first bully
And your first best friend
When you were confident, positive
Without worry
Before doubt and regret
Dragged you through the gates
Of the big school
That one that you always dreamed of
When the world was full of child wonder and hope
And you longed to break away from the circle
To meet your happily ever after
Like the girls in the movies
But what happens next is indescribable
Unthinkable
You lose what was all once yours
You make friends with people
With reptilian eyes
You’re so alone
But there is hope
The bigger school is just around the corner
Your very first steps
All over again
Lola
Untitled
Where people you love
Fly far away overseas to a place they call home
You wish they never had to go
Tears and sadness won’t stop them from leaving
They have to go, stop your weeping
My happiness flies far away overseas
I wish I could fly with thee
Come back soon I’ll always be waiting
For when you come back my heart will stop aching
Anon
My First Time Sparring
My first time sparring
They remember me getting my first bloody nose
They have seen me train hard in preparation for fights
They have seen me happy after victory
And disappointed after defeat
They have seen my trainer encourage me to work harder
They have seen me give it everything.
Dylan Kilgannon
I Saw
I saw all of these animals
On very cold day
With the birds chirping
And the frogs hopping
The fish swimming
And the cows lowing
These animals are all very loud
Some of them are small
And some are very big
Niall Hallinan
Dark Place
She took her last breath.
Left us all in shock.
She could not see a way out
Of her own dark cloud
In her own dark place
Underneath the shadow of her doubt.
The memory of the music
Of her laugh still remains.
I wish I could have seen
All those spiders in her brain
I would have showed her all the beauty
That she should have always known.
That she was forever loved
And would never be alone.
Keith Weir
These Walls
The good times,
The bad.
The crying,
The laughing.
The fun everlasting.
Aidan Keith
The Truce
It happened here on Christmas day.
We put our guns aside
And came together then to pray
Where death had occupied
We sang carols all day together
Out on no man’s land.
We buried our dead comrades,
Weeping hand in hand.
Some of us had hope that day,
That the war may finally end.
We could go back to our families
And visit all our friends.
This war cannot ever end.
I have given up all hope.
It is going to endure
‘Till all that is left is smoke.
But when I’m lying on my bed,
And the gunshot has all but ceased.
I think back to that day,
And I truly feel at peace.
Daniel Polland
The Night
The room was spinning
Music banging
Bass vibrating in the ground
Lyrics running
Rhythms through me
Strobe lights flashing
Break beat sounds
Drinks flowing
Dancers spilling
Out in to the bitter cold
The night is getting old
Now it is time to hit the road
Matthew Mortimer
Untitled
Times long gone,
Battles won
Fields with blood,
Sweat and death
The whispering sword
The roaring rifle
Gunpowder cracks and booms
Trenches, artillery and mustard gas
A soldier, husband, friend or son.
Jude Murphy
School
Lonely classroom prison cells
Sleepy students living hells
Endless Homework endless gossip
We learned the facts waiting for the bell to go
We eat our lunch sitting with our friends
The bell goes back to class again
The bus journey home will it ever end
Skrring around the bend
Emma O’Brien
Manulla
Walking through Munulla’s doorway
The room reverberating sounds
Flashing lights over the disco
The frenzy of the singing crowd
The DJ blaring music pumping
Toast the room that’s spinning round
Up Eashkey!
The best toast going round
Before we hit the ground
Darren Browne
The Feeling
Is a world of my own.
A world that makes me feel at home.
When I go to this world I feel at peace,
I feel the pain let me be.
I stay in this world for as long as I can,
Until the storm drags it down.
Is my thoughts the ones I fought all alone.
Mia Scott
Vacant Memories
A young girl in her room
Her thoughts coming to life
With her head in her hands staring at the nothingness
Drowning out the noises from behind her safe place
The salty tears running down her happy appearance
A mask
For behind the smile lies the deepest feeling of nothing
Waiting for somebody to notice her plea
These walls are watching
A not so young girl
Who remains waiting
Molly Simpson
Untitled
The long-gone knights
Eating meals of gruel
Preparing for the battle within them.
The clash of steel
In the court of the enemy
The fortress holds.
Battle cries
Warriors charging
To their bloody demise.
Murder spattered
Cries of pain
Sharpened swords
Sliced through flesh
The giant boulders,
Burning battered
Catapults, on fire.
Falling rubble, soldiers clamber
Through destruction’s pyre.
Cathal Hegarty
They Say
They say when the soldier was replaced with tanks and aircraft
They say when petrol was replaced by the atom
They now sing with the farmer doing his crop or the confused tourists breaking out the map
The school children with the unease of the newfound liberty of summer
They talk of festivals and traditions
When the farmer turned factory worker
The child turned man
They chirrup for the future, hopeful of what will happen
They mumble about the past, denying the atrocities
The cemeteries whisper
Jude Murphy
Holocaust
They have seen the horrors that unfolded here
They were the first prisoners to be built up
With senseless hope then broken back
Down to less than nothing
The first shipped here, like pigs to slaughter
The faces of those that went by
Where hundreds of them entered through steel doors
And left in body bags
Drawn out faces and bodies as as thin as toothpicks
They have seen the murder, the enslavement of these people
They have seen the horrors that happened here
Glen Donegan
The Feeling
In a world of my own.
The one that makes me feel at home.
The place where I feel at peace,
Where the pain l will let me be.
I stay in this world for as long as I can,
Until the storm drags it down.
To my swirling thoughts,
The ones I fought
In the dark
When I was all alone.
Mia Scott
The Ocean
Clear blue waves that kiss the shore,
And drag the stones upon stones
The sounds of the pebbles
Rolling, knocking against one another
Echoing around the whole world
No one to hear
Water so clear
It may not even be there
There is only the reflection
Of the rolling blue sky
Sheets of blue silk floating by
For miles and miles
Rippling gently in the whispered breeze.
The waves towering, smashing, crushing
Destroying anything in their paths
Black thunderstorm snarling water
White froth foam, turning and crashing
Waves of never-ending darkness
The ocean claims its own
Eva Lavelle
The Easkey Sea Blues
The powerful Sea Blues all started
They train 3 times a week
In the howling wind and the pouring rain
Sea Blues believe, achieve, succeed.
The team prepares for their semifinal
Next weekend against the green and white
Bunnanadden
The players battle until they bleed
They pop the points over the bar
Bury the ball in the back of the net
Until they have it won
The happy people of Easkey
Go to cheer on the boys in blue
The Sea Blues on a winning run.
Ciara Mullen
Eoghan Rua
The Eoghan Rua team trains here,
We win and lose and draw,
The ref blows his whistle one team is sad
While the other is much more glad,
They play in sun and rain,
They train hard and achieve,
The teams fight to win,
We pick up injuries but carry on,
The best team comes out on top
The losers shed a tear
Then they bring home the cup
And keep it for the year.
Leah Weir
Beside the Roaring Sea
Here beside the roaring sea,
People walk the rocky shore,
We hang out
In the old abandoned graveyard,
Talking about things that never mattered,
Gaelic is played
Trophies are won
Our hurling raises the standard,
People like to spend their days
Happy in the best village of easkey.
Eabha Harte
Dressing Room Tales
Nervous, excited, worried faces
Lads coming into the dressing room
Before the game
Pulling on boots,
Hoping their name is on the team
Disappointed faces, skulking, trudging
Shattered at full time
Mud-caked legs and bloody traces
Bottles thrown across the room
Brogan Mellotte
The Battlefield
15 men against 15 men
Hearts and bones are broken
The crowds roar
Dreams are made and crushed
The sea blues play by the sea
Boys become men
Men cry with passion
Enemies are made and friends are lost
Adam Gibson
GPO
The sounds of guns firing
People shouting of the soldiers
Getting shot at
Being built
The cries from the dying
The regular days
When post was delivered
Peace and quiet
Luke Mcgowan
The Cage
The walk to the cage
The nervous butterflies in there stomach
All the blood, sweat and tears
The adrenalin rush
The walk to the cage
The sound your song of fear
The cage the door
Concentration and focus soon kicks in
No room for error
Crowd fading
Time takes you away
Cian Cavanagh
15 Men
There dose be 15 men paling agents
15 other men and they play football.
15 men go out and try to win a match
Boys become men.
There dose be big hitting in the matches
Where friends become enemies and friends are lost
Where men get physical with one another.
People go to cheer on their teams.
Conor Scott
Croke Park
This stadium remembers
All Irelands won and lost
The broken hurles and bones
The joy and heartbreak
Leaving the road of jones
5 in a row
Bloody Sunday
The 1916 rising
Easkey Sea blues
All-Ireland final
Their stories
Will be told
Ryan Gillespie