'It was the bodhrán player who frightened me most'I WAS IN bed for a week recovering from the Eleanor Shanley gig at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in CavanTue Aug 28 2012 - 01:00
Why romance can get up the noses of young bulliesI’ve enjoyed listening to older people’s memories and the lessons they’ve taught me about everyone’s lifeTue Aug 21 2012 - 01:00
Swimming with the desperate Drumshanbo pikeI WAS LOOKING for a newspaper. That’s the only reason I was in the bar at lunchtimeTue Aug 14 2012 - 01:00
Nation's malaise visible in venom flung at QuinnThe Irish are angry but also psychotically ill. Why else target a man who really did his best?Sat Aug 04 2012 - 01:00
Life is a song, and we have one chance to sing it wellONCE UPON a time there was a fisherman who caught a pike.Tue Jul 31 2012 - 01:00
The perfect summers of my mother's lifeI WAS WAITING for the train to Dublin one morning last week and began thinking of my motherTue Jul 17 2012 - 01:00
Who needs tonic when you can just play dead?I HAD A part in a movie last week. Not a big part. I was required to lie in a coffin and pretend I was deadTue Jul 10 2012 - 01:00
Lace in the launderette, languor by laburnumsI SAW TWO OLD men in Bray last week sitting outside a coffee shop, their walking sticks on the ground, as they chatted like jolly…Tue Jul 03 2012 - 01:00
Our head of state and the queen of theatreTHE PRESIDENT WAS in Poland for the soccer, and when Ireland scored he jumped up and threw his hands in the air, delighted with…Tue Jun 26 2012 - 01:00
The Sky is blue, but in the heart is rain and darknessIt comes in sudden downpours of anxiety that no amount of Macs could weatherTue Jun 19 2012 - 01:00
It's a year since I fell into depressionI remember a wise man telling me one time that the human soul is like water; we must allow ourselves to be poured from one vessel…Tue Jun 12 2012 - 01:00
Men and the art of motorcycle masculinityYou can get that motor running and get out on the highway, but while one man’s way of riding a motorbike can be enviably cool…Tue Jun 05 2012 - 01:00
Beware the black cars, bearing politiciansAs my tea leaves stood soaking in a mug of boiling water, I finally relaxedTue May 29 2012 - 01:00
Enfold her with the tenderness of angelsI COULDN’T SLEEP and I wanted a drink of water. But the French woman was lying on the floor in the loungeTue May 22 2012 - 01:00
I want to be alone - but not lonelyI’m a great believer in solitude, living like a monk in quiet contemplationTue May 15 2012 - 01:00
'That was the moment when the dream of a liberal church died'Making an order to cut down cherry trees that another man had cultivated with love; that’s a real storyTue May 08 2012 - 01:00
'It was as cheerful as a beauty clinic. Everyone except me was wearing a mask'The prostate is one of those things men prefer to hide from women, especially those they loveTue May 01 2012 - 01:00
The power of a bedside mannerI’M GOING into hospital again this week, but I’m not too depressed, because I always meet interesting people on the trolleys…Tue Apr 24 2012 - 01:00
Why my heart burns when the weather forecast is on the radioMY THERAPIST SAYS that there is something divided in each of us. And I agree. There are two parts; at least there are in me.Tue Apr 17 2012 - 01:00
Back in the ballroom for a last danceA visit to the dancehall of my youth reminds me of a time when we were all too busy jiving, quick-stepping and smoking to contemplate…Tue Apr 10 2012 - 01:00
Of mothers and the feminine side of thingsI grew up envying the others – the rough boys and the fearsome whelps who could release their wild inner-self at the drop of …Tue Apr 03 2012 - 01:00
As shifty as drug dealers: a murder of crows on my chimneyA trip to the Burren give me a chance to commune with angels and ghosts - and takes my mind off the cackling intruders trying…Tue Mar 27 2012 - 01:00
Losing your place at the centre of the cosmosSpring brings Chinese poetry, bowls of tea and a new hope of recovery from my depressionTue Mar 20 2012 - 00:00
Benefits of good dung not to be sniffed at‘Make your fortune far away, but marry on the dunghillTue Mar 13 2012 - 00:00
In the perfect focus of the film camera's eyeI WAS IN a community hall in Leitrim last week with a film crewTue Mar 06 2012 - 00:00
Hope for love is always around an Irish cornerI WAS IN the Abbey Theatre last week for a felicitation to celebrate the work of Tom McIntyre, the distinguished poet and playwright…Tue Feb 28 2012 - 00:00
Between a rock and a hard placeWHEN I’M in Eileen McDonagh’s presence, I never doubt the existence of the soulTue Feb 21 2012 - 00:00
Reaching out beyond steamy encountersSomething new and healthy is gathering in my bones like the hint of daffodils pushing themselves up through the gravel beside…Tue Feb 07 2012 - 00:00
A funny thing happened at the Olympia on SaturdayShe bumped into me at the interval in the barTue Jan 31 2012 - 00:00
A coming of age, too early or too lateMales have no reverse gear on their emotions. It comes from thousands of years of charging into battles and playing rugby.Tue Jan 24 2012 - 00:00
Death of a friend raises questions of faith and the consolation of loveI WAS IN London recently for the funeral of a friend who emigrated as a teenager, without much education, and worked with asbestos…Tue Jan 10 2012 - 00:00
I didn't realise that the Lone Ranger was an actorI KNEW MY Granny was not fully in tune with the modern world because when we went to Knock, she sat in the back of the car with…Tue Jan 03 2012 - 00:00
Feeling the heat around the table amid memories of the invisible womanSweating in long johns at a posh dinner while the fire roasts my innardsTue Dec 27 2011 - 00:00
I would like to believe in angels on our rooftops . . .... because this darkness of midwinter could not possibly be all that there is. Could it?Tue Dec 20 2011 - 00:00
The annual ritual of returning to Cavan at ChristmasI WAS IN the upstairs bedroom on the phone. Rain was lashing suburbiaFri Dec 16 2011 - 00:00
I listen to budgets but I don't belong to that world any moreI feel helpless and lonely, lying in bed at 8am, wondering should I turn off the radioFri Dec 09 2011 - 00:00
To me hotels are surreal zones, where rock stars die and women danceWithdrawing from a vibrant world into the solitude of four walls can be dehumanisingFri Dec 02 2011 - 00:00
Canada, China and therapy, all via SkypeMy friend Skyped me from a beautiful woman’s kitchen, north of Toronto, as I lay naked in the bed in LeitrimFri Nov 25 2011 - 00:00
Maybe it's time to paint the house pinkWE WERE out for a drive, me and the wife, like a proper Mr and Mrs, on Sunday morning, meandering around the coast of north Sligo…Fri Nov 18 2011 - 00:00
The long life of a boy born on a rainy farmONCE UPON a time a child was born to elderly parents, on a tiny farmFri Nov 11 2011 - 00:00
Golden Age passes as Cavan man denied ÁrasCavan civilization had enjoyed two great peaks; the All-Ireland final victory over Kerry in 1947, and the arrival of the All-…Fri Nov 04 2011 - 00:00
Visiting memories by the lake of shadowsTHERE WAS A Loreto girl in my youth who abides with me yetFri Oct 28 2011 - 01:00
I was in the jacuzzi of a Nama hotel talking to a beautiful woman from near BallymoteI was having a good soak because I had to see the doctor, and I never know what part of my anatomy is going to come under scrutiny…Fri Oct 21 2011 - 01:00
Hard lives and rag dolls are long forgottenThe same Leitrim telegraph poles with posters of Martin McGuinness were festooned with black flags 30 years ago as Bobby Sands…Fri Oct 14 2011 - 01:00
The serenity of turning away from the busy worldI WAS in the D4 Berkeley one night last week, in a room on the 4th floor, gazing out at the tips of trees that stand in the forecourt…Fri Oct 07 2011 - 01:00
It's so hard at home now mother has goneI’VE BEEN doing a lot of walking recently and since it rains a lot in Leitrim, I decided to buy a rainproof trousers and a jacket…Fri Sept 30 2011 - 01:00
A glitch in the fairy tale of meeting the princessWhile waiting for important people he would compose tales with happy endings – but the lines between daydreams and reality sometimes…Fri Sept 23 2011 - 01:00
The merits of knitting in treating depressionIt’s amazing how many people are depressed and alone, on the slopes of mountains around the country, enduring insomnia, or walking…Fri Sept 16 2011 - 01:00
Between the devil and the deep bluesEven during the day, I get ambushed by sadness; it gnaws at my emotions, like a demonic bird come from the deep to pluck me to…Fri Sept 09 2011 - 01:00
