Prayer of the dispossessed:

Saint Barrind the Ferryman pray for us

Carry us safely back to yon glass plain 

Convey us unharmed to the isle of delight

Father, embark in boat and help us return to Westland 

Transport us without risk to the island of the Promised Land of Saints

Navigate poop and prow through mist and fog

Oh ancient Saint of Ireland's Infancy we beseech you

Protect us from Traitorous Patriarchs of the Dáil with questionable authority

Deliver us we pray from those who would cause us harm and tax our water

In the name of all that is and ever shall be holy

Defend us from our own Irish greed and love of graft 

Hunt down our enemies and separate them from their balls

Give us this day our daily pint

Tell that bastard Rory to stay away from the sister Kate

And give this lowly ones Sainted Mother a big wet kiss form her boy

This we pray most fervently, in your reverent name, Amen.

Mark W. Ó Brien

02/Jan/15

 

I John 4:11 The Call!

Some 16 years ago, I first came to read the "Call To Love" contained in "1 John 4" in a Disciple Bible Study course with Gary and Betsy Bates. I have tried to live this verse daily from that day until this. Some days I almost succeed, most days I fall woefully short as I am human and prone to such humbleness.

Soon afterwards I conceived of a sculpture 12' tall illustrating verse "11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 

Well, back then I borrowed my buddy Gary's wood clamps and began construction of a 1/3 size maquette. Somewhere, somehow, I reached a point when I felt called to put the sculpture aside as it was not time for me to complete it. 

Years have passed and it has lived in in my creative thoughts always on the periphery of my artistic consciousness. Periodically I would question in breath prayer: "Now?" 

This November when I was thinking of asking Gail to marry me I came across it in my studio and once again I asked: "Now?" 

To which I heard a resounding "Yes!"

And so at every opportunity for the past month I have been building and carving and thinking and praying this verse. 

Gail is the reason for my joy each and every day now. She personifies this verse in my life. It was only natural that I present it to her as a gift before then kneeling and asking her for her hand in life. To be called to this terribly wonderful commission is daunting. The path may not always be defined and true as it seems now, but with The Lords help I know we are up to it.

Oh yeah, Gary, you can have your clamps back now! 😉

Unfinished, from the back, without the heart. The jagged edges of the broken dowels and the ends of the crossbeams simaltianiously suggest thrones as well as rays of light. 

Close up, with Amber Shellac. I carved the soft grain away with a wire brush to create a 3-D effect all around the heart. The core Heartwood is meant to suggest the presence of the host. 

The finished 1/3 the size maquette. 😊

Saint Mary's Church, Castletownroche, Church Of Ireland.

Virtual Post Cards!

...Just up the road!

The Front Graveyard.

Looking back towards the church.

Away from the Church looking towards the old Mill in the distance.

The old Mill in the distance as a storm rolls through!

I would have loved to managed pics of the inside but it was late in the day on a Bank Holiday so... 

More posts soon!

My Poem Poster goes up in "Cheers."

Back on the 26th I posted a poem "That Sweet Weekly Agony:" on this blog. I will be reading it during my reading and here is a poster picture of the poem that will be tacked up in the "Cheers Bar" in Fermoy to advert the festival! 

This is me presenting the poster to "Conor McNulty" the head bartender! 

Way Cool! 

Raw milk and Soda bread in the morning!

Where do I begin? From the moment I arrived I've felt at home. From Gene and Margo's hospitality to the scent, and feel of things.

I spent Monday with Margo shopping in Cork City. I was spun around at first but eventually came to rest. As I looked around and listened I kept thinking: 

"There goes my brother, my sister, and he looks just like my cousin too!"

After some bank business we began in the English Market. ...and the smells! My nose had a field day! We shopped for clothes and gifts and talked and chatted until finally we stopped back to the Market for evening food. 

I had spotted raw milk the first time through so I asked Margo if she wouldn't mind my buying a bottle. It took a little bit to find the stall I was plesently surprised to meet a "Mary Walsh" the spitting image of my Ma! 

I am sitting here now in the kitchen this morning savoring raw milk and soda bread. I have come home and gone to heaven at the same time!

That sweet weekly agony:

Something NEW from me.On the eve of my trip to Ireland, an "hommage" I was destined to write according to Alan Casline. It came to me as they say "In The Night."

~

That sweet weekly agony:

Where are you now
Sister Mary Margaret
with your Muskerry lilt
and your sea green eyes?

Is it the retirement home
or had you left the order
an birthed your own so?

Are you sadly gone
contentedly now only
asleep in the Lord?

Do you know
I still remember
the scented spice
of your hand?
You laughed
calling it: "Eau
de Ho-lee."

Do you know
I still remember
those Saturday
mornings
learning rhymes?

When my brother
stayed home
to watch Mighty Mouse
Tom & Jerry
Heckle and Jeckle
and I shucked off to you?

This scared
frustrated kid
you taught to read
with rhyme
came to love you
looking forward
eventually not only to you
but the poetry as well
the two forever
intwined.

This endless rhymist
you set spinning off
through life
a tool kit of words
finely grasped
only basically
within these hands then.

Where ever
you are now
Sister Mary Margaret
Thank-you
for the gift of my lifetime!

It took all these years
to recognize
the mustard seed
and it's sower.

The soil was good
crop successful.

"Amen to that now,
Amen and Amen."



© Mark W. Ó Brien
21/July/14

I had an epiphany today! A real life "Mountain Top" experience!

This is a picture of one of my oldest embedded memories. The view from the back window of my father's 1960 (Surf Green) Chevy Impala! 

I remember thinking, "Whoa! That is high! Some day I'm going to climb that!" 

I am convinced that this embedded view was a main reason why I chose to live in Clarksville. I didn't realize it of course until well into my first year of occupancy.

Just the other day on the way home I said to myself: "Yes, some day I will park in that lot and switchback up there." 

The reality is I have climbed many peaks, many of which are far higher and much steeper. 

BUT! None were more satisfying than today's hike. Because this is Wolf Hill! The location of the "Keleher Preserve!" 

When I realized from the initial view through the trees that I was peering at this intersection from the top of the hill I went "Berserk!" 

I started jumping up and down and laughing! Alan Casline thought I was nuts at first! (Of course he already knew or at least suspected this...) ;)

You can see him up the trail here in this picture.

This is looking back at Copland Hill in the distace near the foggy horizon with the Birkshires (Massachusetts) in the far distance.

I have accomplished one of my boyhood dreams and hadn't realized it until I had done it! 

Isn't this so like everything in life? There is JOY everywhere! Some days you simply have to look up!

~

Mark W. Ó Brien

19/July/14