A Battle of Lead
A line shows the ground
A circle is the sun
Scattered dots reveal the dirt
And mixed dashes, a field overrun
Swift strokes conjure an oak tree
Burly men hunch behind
Long rifles kept close
With hidden enemies to find
All soldiers charge on foot
Heavy rain masking their roar
With water soaked uniforms
Scarred and bloodied from war
A scribble of muzzle flares erupt
The men collapse one by one
Warm bodies riddled with holes
The ugly conflict now won
A survivor rises from the smoke
Allies and rivals both killed
Bold lines show his silhouette
The A4 page now filled
Aaron Gillespie
Where
Late evenings and early mornings went by swiftly.
Every day, sitting and waiting, departing and arriving.
Friends made and friends lost, some come and some go.
As the world goes by.
Day by day, night by night.
All the problems of the world, worse and worse, deeper and deeper.
Life goes by in the blink of an eye.
Anon
Untitled
It can be hard being me,
Look 11 when I’m really 15.
Treated differently from all my peers,
Looking so much younger than my years.
Had so much potential when I was young,
Now I just doubt myself,
Limiting myself for doing things that could be fun,
Just because I tell myself I can’t.
Rory Carr
From the Rubble
You may find it hard
And get in trouble
But know there’s light
Near the end of the tunnel
Even if your life
Has fallen down
Build back up from the rubble
Cillian Conway
Stronger and Stronger
When someone puts you down
You get back up
Stronger and stronger
No one should destroy
You
You are you for a reason
More than anything believe in you
And you will never walk alone
Ciaran Quinn
School
I love school
I love when I go to school
When I go there, I feel cool
What I’m saying is true
Come with me and you’ll feel it too.
So much homework, each day there is more
I work so hard until my hands are sore
But I don’t care
Because the rewards will be there.
Anon
These Walls
The many times,
We laughed, we cried,
We shouted, we screamed.
The time you spent alone,
Longing for the warm embrace of,
Family.
The trips on the stairs,
The stumbles and the falls,
The day we had to say goodbye,
Remember it today,
Forever.
Odhran Smyth
Untitled
Where are the kids?
Stop it Karen they’re mine too
I watch as the car skids
The Mercedes that is new
Flies out the driveway
Don’t lie to me
This is a bad day
I’ll never get to teach Aaron how to tie a tie
Maybe if I had been better father
Then young Aaron would have seen a better childhood.
Anon
Untitled
When I walk out to the pitch I only think of one thing,
Scoring the goal of my dreams.
When I get the ball, I look up thinking will this go in.
I think about what celebration to do
Or how can I get away from the pitch from humiliation of failing.
I decide to let it rip and it pays off. Top Bins!
I kick the corner flag in relief and carry on with the game.
Playing and playing in the wind.
Luke Walsh
Here I Am
Here I am back at school with stress to affect my gene pool,
This is it, I’m sitting in class,
So boring I’d rather be at mass,
As teachers yell at me for not paying attention,
And threatening to put me in detention,
Trying to find the value of sine,
I’d rather step on a land mine.
James McDermott
World full of Wonder
A day too long is a day too short
Is what she said before leaving.
A world full of colour is a world full of wonder
Like tree sap sinking into grass.
Ruadhán McLoughlin
Football
Football is my favourite game
I do love to watch them play
The players running across the green
Some of the best I’ve ever seen
The game will give you quite a thrill
In summer’s heat and autumn’s chill
After stepping on the pitch
There is no way out
Even before, you start the game
You hear the fans shout
And when the whistle blows
The crowd starts to roar
In those 90 tensed minutes
The players try to score
Sean Mcateer
Rugby the Beautiful Game
Rugby what a beautiful and passionate game,
It’s not money, fashion or fame.
It’s about the pride, chasing the oval ball.
A hard fought war between two teams of fifteen men,
Not ordinary men, tuff men who are hard as nails,
Running around in muddy fields ready to break a leg for their team,
And teammates who would do the same for them,
To ensure victory.
They have the heart, they’re stood like boulders,
They know it’s not about winning,
And they know were a rugby nation,
We wanna see hearts of gold and a good show.
Niall O’Connor
School
School is flawed for 70%
Creativity begins its descent
In the minds of our youth
Cause they aren’t told the truth
About what they can be
So they beg and plea
For a system that works
And it drives them berserk
To do this mundane work
Just for a grade on a page
Which determines their wage
Darragh Oates
Anxiousness
It was a cold rainy night in Stoke
The ball glided off the grass like a puck on ice
As the clock struck the ninetieth minute
The tension was as if this depended on my life
It was nil all the suddenly BANG!
I heard a roar coming from the stands
When I squinted my eyes and saw the ball in the back of the net
I cannot describe the feeling
The feeling of anxiousness’
As if the butterfly’s in my stomach had have just flown away
Diarmuid Stafford
Football for Da Blues
I love to play
It is all I do
I eat sleep and breathe it
I can’t go without it
It is all I have ever known
It is all I have ever done
I feel addicted but it’s not bad
When I’m without it I go stone mad
So I’m going to tell you what it is I do
I love to play football in the colour blue
Ronan Kelly
Junior Cert
Oh what a day,
Where the 4ths and 5ths,
Receive their results,
Some will win,
Some will lose,
Some will be happy,
Some will be blue,
Oh what a day.
John Darcy
‘Where’
This is where
Where this is
Where is this?
This is where.
There is where
Where there is a where
Is there where this is?
There is where this is.
This is where we come to find a why
Why we come to find a where
Why do we need a where?
Where do we need a why?
We need a why there because there is where we need a why.
Why?
Where.
This?
There.
What?
I don’t know.
Finn Raftery
Casualties
The lives that were lost
To a war that was formed
From the hatred in people’s hearts.
The beliefs of one
Versus that of another,
Ended in the loss
Of many innocent hearts
And families torn apart.
Anon
Seaweed
Walking on the beach
Sand between my toes.
The chilly wind shows
As everyone is wearing jumpers.
Ahead of me something washed up
What could it be?
Floating in from the sea…
It’s nothing but a piece of seaweed.
Jamie Kilfeather
Forever
The cold days in December
The days of joy and ember
We remember playing on green grass fields full of passion
I remember pulling on the green and white shirt full of heart and remember.
These walls painted in history
As they remember all the cups and jumps of joy forever
Because these walls will never forget what they remember
Anon
The Start
The lights go out
And away we go.
The engines groan
And the tires squeal.
The turbos whine
And the fans cheer.
The driver’s focus on what needs to be done
As they fight for position into turn one.
Ryan O’Leary
Soccer
I always have liked soccer.
Such a rough game.
Such skills required.
And popular.
Hometown watching,
On Sunday morning.
When one day,
I found that I needed
To withdraw.
It was the honourable
Thing to do
Darragh McGoldrick
Untitled
It hungers for one thing
The one thing we all want
To fulfil our purpose
But its purpose is not that of our own
But rather to take, to steal
To draw the crimson river in us all
For that is its purpose, death
Rhodán
Troubled
Troubled since the 70s
Familiar Fenian melodies
Constant fighting, never writing
Down our hopes and dreams
Bonfires and flag flyers
Buckfast and fags
Never uniting, always dividing
The conflict only drags
Adam Kerlin
A Story Forgotten
These walls recall the interesting stories
Like the conflict people have
The memories they make with the friends closest to them
The achievements won by talented people and great athletes
Who have overcome trials and all the struggles that faced them
These walls recall the stories worth telling.
These walls won’t remember me
Cormac Fahey
A Life Before This
The ocean teaming with colour
Shimmering with light
Where the jellyfish have dreams
And the coral flourished
Burdened by humanity its self
The undying discovery of plastic
Ronan Gray
Fresh Start
This is where it all began for me
Walking through that corridor on my first day
Looking up to people, getting lost and feeling
Utterly intimidated
Oh what a day a day I will never forget
Then break time came I managed to survive the morning
Up I went happy as Larry to buy some sausage rolls
Only to be crushed in the line and I didn’t even get to buy them
Oh how times have changed
Anon
Football
I’m a great goalkeeper, I let everything in but the balls.
I put it in the hole to score a goal.
When I go on loan I make them moan.
Illan Callaghan
Sports
Whether you’re playing rugby, football, or sports in your school,
There is always something for you.
Sports builds your confidence and you can make new friends too,
It can also take your mind off other things,
This is why you need to try a different sport just for you.
Cathal Morahan
The Wonderful Weather
The sky is covered in clouds
The air is moist with moisture
The rain is dripping directly down beneath
On the ground the snails slowly sliders
On the bat the cat jumped with the rat
But the rain still fell from the top
Christopher Lobo
Untitled
The bean in the sky speaks true colours of wisdom to me
And makes me believe in all the four seasons
They are there for a reason
Life is like a shower cap in many ways
We’re are all looking for our shower cap to hide the pain in our head
The big boys will call you skinny
But one day you will rise above and taste the sweet taste of the butter fields
Before I was weak and then a large man named Kisby taught me the ways of the salmon
And now I will capture the lotus flower guarded by the queen of nobley knees Durkin
Once I have the lotus flower in my position I will defeat my arch nemesis
Jack Mcgovern
Untitled
We played 90 minutes
In hail, rain and snow
Only for the keeper
To let in a stupid goal
The ref blew his whistle
It ended in defeat
That’s it
Until next week
Anon
Football Poem
I stand on the field with my heart beating fast
Anxiously waiting for my teammate to pass
So I make my run into space
I beat the defender with my pace
Like a bullet a screamer hits the back of the net
Ross Gormley
There’s Only One Rovers
I always remember the night Sligo Rovers beat Shams,
The greatest night of my life.
Fordyce hit it with the left,
Jack Keaney with the right.
When Aaron Greene scored he laughed at our fans,
When Keaney scored the Shams threw their cans.
Keaney celebrated. Romeo squared up to a fan.
David Cawley drank the Heineken.
Keaney’s free-kick sent shivers up my spine.
Fordyce’s goal lifted me up out of my seat,
And that feeling cannot be beat.
I’m a loyal fan as you can see,
I am in love with Sligo Rovers F.C.
Liam Curley
Life Poem
In a small, country house,
Full of people and noise,
Enormous amounts of stress,
I just about get through it.
But my life can be a struggle.
Cian Clarke
Believe
Believe
That you are stronger
Than you are
Smarter
Than you think
More beautiful
Than you ever
Imagined
Jamie Cawley
Life
Life is rough
Being a teenager is tough
Living up to expectations
Getting A in results
Wasting 7 hours in school
Doing stuff I don’t enjoy
Ten grow up and get a 9-5 job
Just to live from paycheck to paycheck
Ahmad Ramzan
I Wake
As I wake up
To licks on my face
By my dog with
Plenty affection
I go down to hear screams of anger
“Make your bed”
Is what I hear
After I done all the chores
It’s down to the football pitch
With the boys
To practice for the big game
This is what I live for
Conor Keane
I Sit
I sit in my maths class,
In Room 312, we start flying airplanes,
As Fergus’s stationary gets nicked.
As I fly an aircraft,
Fergus turns round,
So I blame it on Ciaran
To save me.
Suddenly I realise I’m meant to be doing maths,
So I completed a sum,
Before the end of class.
Anon