Wormley

Tom Barry : An early member and officer of the IRA started out as a recruit in the English army during World War I. Fighting in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers he was unaware that, at home, Irish patriots were being systematically hanged. Altered versions of English news papers were forwarded to the troops which removed all content of any unrest in Ireland, let alone a policy of hangings. Learning of the Easter Rebellion and Irish hangings, on returning home, was a severe psychological blow that transformed a bored action seeking Irish teenager into a raging soldier patriot. Touched : This is said to be about the moments just before Gavin's fiancee died. The clash of hope and uncompromising real events result in HIS spiritual death. Caitlin's demise is repeatedly expressed as HIS death. She lived. He died. Vision : His only view of the world for four years in captivity was a small crack in the mortar of the stone walled dungeon and his own mental vision. The former allowed just a pinhole view of the sky. Waves : A later piece, the dual representation of waves as a travel in time through memory and also as the effects of drinking that, perhaps, overcome the repression of painful memories. Pain of loss is clearly expressed. It is too vivid and shared by the reader to be called 'touching'. It crosses a line into the realm of tragedy. Words : Another poem dealing with official usage of language as a means of suppression. Law as a vehicle for treachery cloaked behind facades of platitudes. The generality falls to the specific. The specific is verbal concoction without substance of justice.