Uninvited Guest

Well done to writers from our Scríobh Arís Writing Group !!
Frances Browner and Deirdre Crosby have had their work published.

The September Bray Arts Journal was launched last Friday,  27 February 2019.
The launch was part of the Bray Literary Festival 2019.

Included in the Bray Arts Journal is a poem by Frances Browner,  Nor’easter 2003.
Frances Browner facilitates our GCS Scríobh Arís Writing Group.
Frances is a renowned writer and has much published work to her credit.

Also published is a poem by Deirdre Crosby,  Uninvited Guest.
This is Deirdre’s first poem to be published.
The poem was written and workshopped at Scríobh Arís.

We are so proud of our writers and our group and wish them future success !!
Both poems will be on our GCS website shortly.
You will be able to read and enjoy them for yourselves !!

www.GreystonesCancerSupport.com.

Frances and Deirdre will also have their work published next month.
Boyne Berries Magazine,  a bi-monthly literary journal,  based in Trim,  Co. Meath.
Our GCS Scríobh Arís Group meets Wednesday evenings in GCS @7.30 pm.
Last Wednesday of the month,  the group meets in Mrs. Robinson’s.

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Bio of poem:

An ordinary spring morning in February 2014 brought about my first cancer diagnosis.
I entered a room full of women sharing the same circumstances – a lot of anxiety and fear filled the air.  I spoke quietly to the lady next to me who was very anxious and tried to reassure her all would be well, all the time asking myself, why am I here?  I had no symptoms whatsoever, so felt at relative ease.
What transpired within the next few hours changed my life forever.
I am grateful for the intervention and multiple procedures that brought about my diagnosis.  I may not have been able to tell of this episode with cancer.
The sun was still shining when I walked out to continue my life.
(A second diagnosis followed 2 years later.)  

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UNINVITED GUEST

February ‘14, a letter through the door.
Routine.  No problem.  I put it in a drawer.

Mammogram over. Time well spent.
Sigh of relief.  So glad I went.

What’s this now, another envelope?
A voice whispers “don’t despair, have hope”.

Waiting room.  Anxiety.  Unspoken fear.
A lady calls my name, “Come this way, dear.”

Lying in the dark, eyes fixed to a screen.
Images.  Shadows. A silent wish to scream.

Another lady enters, tall, focused, searching
She makes a brisk note, my stomach lurching

Biopsy painful.  Excruciating.  Distress.
Mind spins out of control; heart races.

“Sit, please.  Take a breath”.  I try to rest.
Diagnosis reveals an uninvited guest.

Where?  How?  Why?  Gently answered.
It’s life changing, early-stage cancer.

Deirdre McKernan (Crosby)
April 2019

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NOR’EASTER 2003

 For Jakob

February 16th, President’s Day
A blizzard hits the US of A
Historical, record-breaking sleet
Knocks the East Coast to its feet.

A white mantle covers Riverdale
Cocooned, can’t see my car
Blocked in all day on Broadway
It’s a boy, I get the call.

In Greystones, a golden child is born
Six pounds, zero ounces, scribbled down
Blonde hair, blue eyes, smiling cherub
His name shall be known as Jakob.

“I don’t want to be a grandson!”
He wails in the family photograph
“I don’t want to go to Tasmania!”
He wobbles the immigrant ship
“I can’t believe it’s in black and white!”
He whines at the Wizard of Oz in the Mermaid
On ‘getting to know our county’ trips.

Now sixteen, in Transition Year
Scholar, sportsman, Temple Carrig peer
Star in his high school musical, Rat Trap
Charming, good-looking, it’s a wrap.

Still the main man on our expeditions
Leading lad on cousin excursions
Chatting up a storm on the beach in Brittas
Bombarding us with hugs and kisses.

As New York was paralyzed by gales
Closed roads, airports shut, train delays
Coastal floods, erosion, heavy snow

A whirlwind was gathering force in Wicklow

Frances Browner

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