To All the Presidents, All the Kings and All the Generals – by Michael J. Whelan

The poem ‘To All the Presidents, All the Kings and All the Generals’ is read by the poet/author Michael J. Whelan. Poem read from the collection titled Rules of Engagement (Doire Press, 2019)

 

 

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GALLIPOLI – by Michael J. Whelan

GALLIPOLI – read by Michael J Whelan from Rules of Engagement (Doire Press, 2019).

Author royalties going to Irish military veteran charities

 

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SPARROWS SING – This week’s podcast on Words Lightly Spoken (a podcast of poetry from Ireland)

 

Art by Michael J. Whelan

 

 

My poem ‘Sparrows Sing’ is this week’s podcast on Words Lightly Spoken, and is a tribute to the poet #FrancisLedwidge in #Gallipoli. It was recorded by Claire Cunningham a few months ago.

Michael J Whelan reads his poem Sparrows Sing in this episode of Words Lightly Spoken, a podcast of poetry from Ireland. The poem is a tribute to the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge, who died in World War 1, and is from Michael’s collection Rules of Engagement, published by Doire Press.

See links below where it can be heard. Please encourage all your friends to listen/download to boost the download figures.

The links are:
https://wordslightlyspoken.libsyn.com/

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/…/words-lightly-spo…/id1449844470

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/0d5BF1EWXQbQnaUYufgAVD

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Words-Lightly-Spoken-754598431575512/

Twitter @LightlyWords

Poetry Ireland website https://www.poetryireland.ie/…/words-lightly-spoken-a-new-p…

 

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Invitation – Launch of RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (Poetry Collection)

Hi all, I’m very grateful and happy to announce that Major General Sean Clancy – Deputy Chief of Staff (Sp) Irish Defence Forces will launch my new poetry collection RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (Published by Doire Press) at the Red Line Book Festival 2019 on Tuesday October 8th at 6.30pm in the County Library Tallaght, part of the proceeds of the sale of the book will be donated to veterans charities and groups.

Please come along if you can, all welcome,

Michael

 

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RULES OF ENGAGEMENT – Forthcoming new collection by Michael J. Whelan – 2019

 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT – Forthcoming new collection by Michael J. Whelan in October 2019

 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Photo: (c)Michael J. Whelan

 

So some great news that I have been waiting to share with you.

My forthcoming new book titled RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (poetry) will be published by Doire Press (who published my last collection PEACEKEEPER in 2016). Rules of Engagement will be launched at the Red Line Book Festival 2019 in October this year. I will also be going on a short reading tour of the county in the Autumn with fellow writers from the Doire family so hopefully I’ll see you on one of the organised events and maybe at the launch.

I am very, very grateful to the team at Doire Press for taking on my poems again, for believing in them and for the continuing encouragement of many people over recent years.

THANK YOU

Michael

 

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GALLIPOLI – a poem by Michael J. Whelan

GALLIPOLI

 

Today I stood above the Aegean Sea

listening for echoes I could not hear.

The silent tempo of the ground

resonates still on unnatural landscapes.

The zig-zag lines where dead men toil

dug deep into blood smeared soil,

buried now with their bones

on beaches and gullies where once

they fought the Turk,

stormed the shores and hills as if thrown

against the wind by Agamemnon himself.

 

The silence bade me look towards Troy

across the Straits from Helles.

I still could hear no voice, nor thunder in the sky

except the launching waves pushing ancient

pebbles up the beach to rest,

where once they drowned the hearts of men.

 

Then behind me I could feel it,

the noise of peace and echoes of war

in a thousand monuments to the dead,

stretched out in marching order.

 

And there, watching me my shadow

took on the specter of a ghost and spoke,

 

‘Like Hector I was the defender

brave and virtuous – but of Irish stock,

I am the soldier my country forsook.’

 

And in response I said

      I have come at last to pay my respects,

I have come to take you home!

 

Michael J. Whelan

25th April is the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings of 1915, during the Great War

V- Beach Cemetery Gallipol, where many Irishmen rest: Michael J. Whelan 2011

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TO ALL THE PRESIDENTS, ALL THE KINGS, ALL THE GENERALS AND POLITICIANS – a poem by Michael J. Whelan

WWI Scene – Soldier on Wire (c)Michael J. Whelan, 2009

 

TO ALL THE PRESIDENTS, ALL THE KINGS, ALL THE GENERALS AND POLITICIANS

I have seen the wire
that caught on the uniforms
of unlucky soldiers,
touched the pointed barbs
that pierced their skin
before the bullets
that took them,
stood where the missing lie.
In my pocket
is a poem
that brings me back
like a bridge.
In my pocket
is the blood coloured rust
of the rage of men.

Michael J. Whelan

 

Published in ‘One Hundred Years From Now,’ a sequence of poems by Michael J Whelan in LE Poetry & Writing, Edited by Mark Ulyseas, Volume One December 2018

see

https://liveencounters.net/le-poetry-writing-2018/12-dec-pw-vol-one-2018/michael-j-whelan-one-hundred-years-from-now/

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AWAKEN HISTORY’S DEAD – a poem by Michael J. Whelan

War Graves – WWI. Photo: Michael J. Whelan 2017

AWAKEN HISTORY’S DEAD

The impacting shells of modern wars
always threatens to awaken history’s dead.
If vibrations disturb old battlefield’s bled
would the warrior ghosts recognise the modern cause
as we have claimed their allegiance to ours,
if not – who would be our enemies then?

Michael J. Whelan

 

Published in ‘One Hundred Years From Now,’ a sequence of poems by Michael J Whelan in LE Poetry & Writing, Edited by Mark Ulyseas, Volume One December 2018

see

https://liveencounters.net/le-poetry-writing-2018/12-dec-pw-vol-one-2018/michael-j-whelan-one-hundred-years-from-now/

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AFTER THE GREAT WAR – a poem by Michael J. Whelan

Thiepval Memorial to the missing on the Somme, World War One. Photo: Michael J. Whelan 2018

AFTER THE GREAT WAR

do not ask what all the sacrifice was for
or ponder on its worth,
the future should fear no vengeance
from the past
for in the years of remembrance
a hundred years hence,
when the last veteran has finally passed
we shall be at war again.

Michael J. Whelan 

 

Published in ‘One Hundred Years From Now,’ a sequence of poems by Michael J Whelan in LE Poetry & Writing, Edited by Mark Ulyseas, Volume One December 2018

see

https://liveencounters.net/le-poetry-writing-2018/12-dec-pw-vol-one-2018/michael-j-whelan-one-hundred-years-from-now/

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ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW – a poem by Michael J. Whelan

At the graveside of war poet Isaac Rosenberg, killed during the Great War Photo: Michael J. Whelan, France 2018

ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW

I was reading lines from a famous poet
killed while fighting in the Great War.
We never met but through his poems I know him,
what he saw and felt a hundred years ago.
He resonates with me, now,
we are connected,
his emotions are mine as I read,
his body – gone, but he exists
and I know his feebleness as I write.

 

Michael J. Whelan

Published in ‘One Hundred Years From Now,’ a sequence of poems by Michael J Whelan in LE Poetry & Writing, Edited by Mark Ulyseas, Volume One December 2018

see

Michael J Whelan – One Hundred Years From Now

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