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    Jen Herron

    How People Take Their Tea Mint in Morocco— with apple shisha in a crowded café. White leaves in a clay pot— a hilltop in Japan. Masala chai, sugar, milk— plastic chairs on a Mumbai street. Serene flecks in a white bowl— the matted floor of a Chinese suburb. Bagged, Nambarrie, semi-skimmed— a bungalow by the Irish coast. Jen Herron Jen’s…

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    Megeen R. Mulholland

    Folks Songeneration At last I tried to make it last, the last some her I spent at Cailleach’s dim and dust he home with shingles and shutters. Lull gone by, I fell to sleep without leaping sheep but to song: Seesaw, Margery Draw sold her bed to lie in straw. Wasn’t she a naughty girl, to sell her bed to…

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    Neil McCarthy

    Peter God From the off, let me state for the record his name was James. –       How are you today, James? –       Ah sure I´m fine, thanks Peter God. (Nicknames were nailed to your back where I come from)  James commanded the far corner of the bar like a general surveying his infantry. Customers…

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    Neil McCarthy

    The Day I Nearly Killed Donal Reagan with the Bucket of a JCB The day I nearly killed Donal Reagan with the bucket of a JCB  had actually started well – a 7am cycle through Myross Wood, out past Rineen at full tide, trees electric with waking birds,  tractors dieseling along the lanes to a creamery on its last legs; …

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    Máire T. Robinson

    Trinity Knot: A Nollaig na mBan Story (in 3 Parts) I After my son was born, I didn’t know what birth story to tell. When people asked how it had gone, what version of the truth did they want to hear? The word traumatic was on the tip of my tongue but I swallowed it back. I defaulted. The important…

  • Ireland

    Seán Carlson

    Bus to Ballybunion The five o’clock bus is nearly full by the time it leaves Tralee eight minutes after the hour. The transport lurches from the station, shifting between low gears in afternoon traffic. “This is ridiculous,” an older man says. “It is,” a younger woman affirms across the aisle. “Every day now,” one of them offers. The first temporary-protection…

  • Feature,  Ireland,  Literature,  Poetry,  USA

    A Celtic Sojourn

    For over twenty years famed Boston radio host Brian O’Donovan spread holiday cheer with his annual production of “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn.” From an oversized, red chair, O’Donovan presented to American audiences the Christmas traditions of Ireland through a mix of music, dance, poetry, and storytelling. Born and raised in Clonakilty, Cork, O’Donovan emigrated to Boston in 1980. Six years…