The Property Equation

We had agonised about it for years:

the dream of extra space

versus the trauma

of six months lost

to the tyranny of tiles and paint,

our shrinking lives

shuttled from room to room.

Now we sit in the bosom

of our brand new extension,

marvel at the magic of magnolia,

and wonder whether to de-commission

the other rooms, while a news camera

on our 50” Smart TV

pans the huddled doorways of Grafton Street.

© Maurice Devitt

'We have very different values': Focus official hits back at Skehan's comments that homelessness is 'normal'

Maurice was the winner of the 2015 Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition, he has been runner-up or shortlisted in Listowel, Cuirt, Patrick Kavanagh, Interpreter’s House and Cork Literary Review. He is the curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group and has just published his debut poetry collection, ‘Growing Up in Colour’, with Doire Press.

And just when you expect

the CAP to fit,
they do this. Me
planning to expand
the farm, from two-seater
leather to a three-seater
in lush green velour
and, having had the same set
of farm animals since
I was a child, I just bought
my first cow. Already
we are squeezed
for space on the couch
and he also insists
on hogging the remote.

© Maurice Devitt

Hogan warns 'hobby and sofa farmers' EU payments will be scrutinised in reform

Winner of the 2015 Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition, he was runner-up or shortlisted in Listowel, Cuirt, Patrick Kavanagh, Interpreter’s House and Cork literary Review. He is a poet of international breadth, having had poems published in the UK, US, India, Romania, Australia and Mexico, and representing Ireland at the Berryman Conference in Minneapolis, and at the Poets in Transylvania Festival. He is also the curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group and has a debut collection upcoming from Doire Press in 2018.

A Christmas Card

arrives at an empty house,

slips through the letter-box

and waits in the stripey stillness

of the draughty hall.

Face-down, the return address -

a woman in an apartment across town.

Only the card knows what she has written

and how long it took to write.

© Maurice Devitt

Have you sent your Christmas cards yet? Here are the last dates for posting this season

Maurice Devitt was runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, he has had poems published in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Mexico, Romania, India and Australia, runs the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site and is a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

Homeless

Last night I was so tired

I slept in my shoes,

was reminded

of the weightless abandon

of my bedroom after school,

where, slumped

fully-clothed on the bed,

I listened for your step

on the stair, your warm voice

calling me to dinner.

But here, as the hostel

coughs up another day,

I wake to the jagged sounds

of morning,

the too-loud details

of invisible lives

and the sticky voice

in my head, wondering

where I will sleep tonight.

© Maurice Devitt

"You get up in the morning and the first thing you say to yourself is 'where am I going to sleep tonight'?"

Maurice Devitt was the runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition in 2015 and has been placed or shortlisted in many competitions including the Patrick Kavanagh Award, Listowel Collection Competition, Over the Edge New Writer Competition and Cuirt New Writing Award. With 200 poems published in Ireland and internationally, he has a debut collection upcoming from Doire Press in 2018. He is also the curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site and a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

The Origins of Fuzzy Logic

i.m. Lotfi Zadeh 1921-2017

When she called to cancel

dinner, she offered

no excuse, said that

something had come up,

a phrase that got me

thinking

about the elasticity of truth.

I called her back,

hung up

before she answered,

knowing

that a missed call

can create a fresh truth,

one that begs

to be uncovered.

© Maurice Devitt

Remembering Lotfi Zadeh, the Inventor of Fuzzy Logic

Maurice Devitt was runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, he has had poems published in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Mexico, Romania, India and Australia, runs the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site and is a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

What Took You So Long?

And every time the doorbell rang

I thought it might be you,

but no -

a plumber to fix a leaky tap,

a man on a bicycle

selling chicken soup

or my wife,

unable to locate her key -

each unaware

that they had walked themselves

into the plot.

© Maurice Devitt

The guilty secret: Chinese crime writer arrested for four cold-case murders

Maurice was runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, he has had poems published in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Mexico, Romania, India and Australia, runs the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site and is a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

'Kepler’s Conjecture'

             

Today I took some time


from staring at the stars


and ambled to the market.






Nothing too fancy, mind,


just one of those stack-em-high,


sell-em-cheap brigades






that are all the rage


in Germany. Perhaps attracted


by the colour, I got to thinking






about oranges, how lonely


they look arranged in single-file


and not the most efficient.






So I took out my parchment,


scribbled some calculations


to find the Egyptians were right






all along, and that pyramids rock.


Now I sit and wait for the world


to catch up, four hundred years






and one big computer, to prove


what any self-respecting orange-stacker


could have told you if you asked.

© Maurice Devitt

http://news.sky.com/story/1317501/solved-400-year-old-maths-theory-finally-proven

Maurice is reading for an MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei, and has recently been short-listed for the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Competition. He is working towards a first collection.  

New York Morning

             Brooklyn goes dark

and then Manhattan,

as they shield the world

from prying eyes.

Scuttle unseen

through landmarks

of dreams

and bleach from skin

the stains of war,

so when we wake

from fist of sleep

is it to surrender

or first flutterings

of peace?

© Maurice Devitt

http://news.sky.com/story/1305785/brooklyn-bridge-flags-police-hunt-climbers

D-Day

And seventy years later

you will return to the spot

where we landed, young

and full of fear.



With the comfort of distance

you will recall

how we trudged

through a darkness

not our own

and how our lives blurred

with every step.



In a quiet moment

you may shudder

at what could have been,

while we look down

and marvel at the world

we created, happy

that the pressing issues of the day

can be beaten

into a cocked hat.

Maurice Devitt

Maurice Devitt dabbles occasionally in poetry and has had poems accepted by various journals in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Australia and Mexico. He is a founder member and chairperson of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

http://news.sky.com/story/1272720/hats-too-high-france-changes-car-for-queen

Sunday Review

Hello everyone, I went to Leeds festival last weekend which was filled with music and torrential rain. I came back to your poetry on Monday which was started by Maurice Devitt with Me and my Shadow. This was a haunting story of a boy who was kidnapped in 1964 which turned out he had been returned to the wrong family. Maurice write from the perceptive of the boy, making it more haunting and heartbreaking.

Wednesday we had Cheesy Chips and a Huge TV by Carolyn Cornthwaite. This was about Jamie Oliver criticising cheese, chips and huge TVs as part of modern poverty. I felt a kind of disgruntled irony in this piece, filled with satirical imagery. I actually thought the structure of the poem was impressive.

On Thursday our own Poetry24 editor, Hamish Mack, took the reins and wrote for us, Hooray for theWreckers. The news story was a list of vice-chancellor’s salaries. It was a poem rich with imagery and irony. Carolyn Cornthwaite commented on the cannibalisation of our young and the snakes as being particularly vivid images.

Saturday was Wendy Nicholson’s Clarion Call. I chose this one to go out yesterday as I felt it was particularly strong near the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. I liked how it began with ‘Why has nothing changed,’ and ends with ‘One day we shall be free!’

Unfortunately sometimes we miss days to post something, but that’s doesn’t mean we don’t read your work. Every piece is read over by all of us and we appreciate them all. Please continue to submit to us at poetry24@hotmail.comwith the title of your poem in the subject and, as usual, spread the word about Poetry24.

Michael.

Me and My Shadow

When I was kidnapped
it wasn’t me they rescued
but you, and gifted,
with my pointy ears,
you became me.
Welcomed home
by parents
you had never seen,
to toys
that were never yours,
you  learnt
to live my life.
While I
slipped through
the wardrobe of time
to a place
where no-one knew
my proper name
and chores were done
by someone else.
Still, all was well
until today
when, losing faith
in family photos,
you checked your DNA
to find
that you were never me
and I was waiting in the wings
to start it all again.

© Maurice Devitt

Boy snatched in 1964 returned to wrong family

A graduate of the Poetry Studies MA at Mater Dei in Dublin I was recently short-listed for the Doire Press Chapbook Competition. During 2012 I was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, was runner-up in the Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition and short-listed for the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Competition. Over the past two years I have had about 60 poems accepted by various journals in Ireland, England, Scotland, the US, Australia and Mexico. I am a member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group.

*Poetry24 begs to be forgiven for having inadvertently posted an incorrect version of the above poem. The correct version will now remain until Wednesday morning. AW

Leaves on the track

Clearly the Victorians

were proud

of their trains,

so they invested

to make them faster

and more mysterious,
 
seamless snakes

of love and murder,

platforms of denial,

where tears

became agents of deceit

and petered lists

of unknown destinations

coughed names

of crooked despair.


© Maurice Devitt

Rail network to see 'biggest investment' since the Victorians

Maurice is reading for an MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei, and has recently been short-listed for the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Competition. He is working towards a first collection.

Europe, the morning after

We wake
in the itchy clothing
of defeat,

crave
the fitted suit
of success,

the easy smiles,
the seamless replay
of expectation.

Instead
we don
the cast-off clothes

of older siblings,
shuffle
in the shadows

and scour
the pockets
for crumpled bank-notes.

© Maurice Devitt

Andrews praises Ireland fans but Roy Keane criticises the Irish mentality

Maurice is reading for an MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei, and has recently been short-listed for the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection Competition. He is working towards a first collection.