Terry McDonagh – Glore Woman – For Sally McKenna

Terry McDonagh - Glore Woman - For Sally McKenna Live Encounters Magazine October 2014

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Glore Woman – For Sally McKenna – by Terry McDonagh, Irish Poet, Playwright and Writer

Sally McKenna came from the USA to live in County Mayo in Ireland about ten years ago and since then she, and her work as an artist, has had a huge impact on the life in the area around Kiltimagh. She has transformed an old disused mill into a wonderful artist’s studio and called it Glore Mill Arts Centre. www.sallymckenna.com

She illustrated my book, Cill Aodain & Nowhere Else and has done the covers for other books of mine. This poem was written in appreciation of the contribution her public art and work in general has made to the area. Live Encounters has also published an interview with her.

Glore Woman
for Sally Mckenna

Woman without origin, here,
you carve and quilt
by the Glore river
like a joyful feature glowing
in the spirit of water and wood.

Woman without root, here,
look back upriver
to the source of wild currents
raging into tributaries of dust
like questions that cannot be answered.

Child of canvas and stone, here,
come out 
into to the hills you have created,
into your colours chanting,
into the exile you left by a lake in Illinois.


© Terry McDonagh 

 

 

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