http://julieocallaghan.com Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:22:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Julie O'Callaghan is gifted not only with a good ear, she also has a sharp, accurate eye...A witty, wise, funny humane collection. - Brendan Kennelly, Sunday Independent The voice of the mid-West on vacation – crude, colloquial and demonstrative. It is the brash voice of the American salesman promoting freedom, free enterprise ... http://julieocallaghan.com/reviews/on-poetry The demotic, funny, quiety devastating vignettes of Julie O'Callaghan seem to owe a debt to the brevity and precision of classical Chinese poetry. O'Callaghan is a Chicagoan of Irish descent who has lived in Ireland since her twenties. Selected from a 25-year publishing history, the poems of 'Tell Me This ... http://julieocallaghan.com/reviews/review-by-stephen-knight Tell me about the background of your poem, 'The Great Blasket Island'. The idea for ‘The Great Blasket Island’ came after watching a documentary by Muiris MacConaghaill on RTE television about islanders coming back (as in the poem) to see the houses where they grew up. The government had decided ... http://julieocallaghan.com/interviews/interview-with-kevin-mcdermott Jack, my father, I am flying to you on words, on white-topped condor wings of thoughts to the high altiplano where you are perched. I need to tell you the message hidden in the ch’ullu, the pasamontana, the brightly knitted hat, I made for your last winter. I worked in magic tocapu patterns and Bolivian pictographs. It was a spell. Bright green birds ... http://julieocallaghan.com/poems/brightly-knitted-bolivian-chullu Last summer we lived on the planet of purest sadness looking at people in the streets like aliens - looking at each day as if it were the last. We spoke to the moon without words, without hope.         * There was a blue pool in the sky. We liked swimming up there when the moon and some stars floated in the water. You had to be careful not to butterfly through ... http://julieocallaghan.com/poems/alla-luna-a-lunar-cycle I know I'm a total party-pooper. But there's no way I can go to Red Lobster. I have to stay home. I have to rest. I can't move. Chip is like: 'How come you don't want to to go out anyplace?' I'm this huge moose with no hair, a cheapo wig and cancer. And I'm supposed to go and eat a Seafood Platter? No ... http://julieocallaghan.com/poems/no-can-do Six men born on this island have come back after twenty-one years. They climb up the overgrown roads to their family houses and come out shaking their heads. The roofs have fallen in, birds have nested in the rafters. All the whitewashed rooms all the nagging and praying and scolding and giggling and crying and gossiping are scattered in the memories ... http://julieocallaghan.com/poems/the-great-blasket-island So what’s to live for? I’m placing an American Express Gold Card on the cash desk - seven hundred and fifty dollars down the drain for a fantasy rhinestone pump with spike heels. Yesterday, it was paisley-gilded black brocade lace-ups with a louis heel. My analyst said, ‘Indulge.’ So I’m indulging already! I think I’d rather have an affair. My Grecian ... http://julieocallaghan.com/poems/well-heeled White when rain whispers it is snow Green when leaves whisper it is spring Blue when sky whispers it is wind Grey when cloud whispers it is wet Red when day whispers it is dusk Purple when hills whisper it is far Yellow when sun whispers it is heat Black when night whispers it is sleep http://julieocallaghan.com/childrens-poems/earth-whispers When you stop that dumb-bell show-off act, I'll let you see the Mr Potato Head game I've brought. It's for you. Here's a potato: stick in the eyes - make it look funny for goodness sake. You can have it look nutty too, just put the ears on upside down. Don't you want to have fun? Well if you ... http://julieocallaghan.com/childrens-poems/mr-potato-head