poems Archives

A New Poem: The Power of Now

February 24, 2022September 28, 2017 by Orna Ross

This week’s inspirational poetry: The Power of Now. A poem inspired by Eckhart Tolle. I’m inspired by creativity in all … Read more

Creating Happy Holidays: A New Poem

February 24, 2022December 22, 2016 by Orna Ross

After we’ve taken to the shops, the public houses, the clamour and glitz, we come home, step out of the swell, … Read more

Two Mary Oliver Poems

February 24, 2022August 15, 2015 by Orna Ross

I have two Mary Oliver poems I keep coming back to.

Here's one I sent to my daughter Treasure, who has a tendency to be hard on herself, and loves inspirational poetry. I dedicate it to her and all the women who do too much.

That used to be me. Not so much now.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Aaaah!

The second one is Summer Day and here is Oliver reading it herself.

You'll find more of her poetry here. .

And can I also recommend to you her book about writing and reading poetry (in particular, metrical verse): Rules for the Dance.

A Poem For Brigid’s Day

August 25, 2022February 1, 2014 by Orna Ross

My mother’s name is Brigid, though everyone knows her as Ida, named as almost every Irish person used to be, … Read more

The Writer’s Call: A Film Poem About Why I Write

February 15, 2022March 12, 2011 by Orna Ross

The Writer’s Call: A Poem Your words must clear the ground for love, I heard it all declare. I kissed my … Read more

Time Out At Glendalough

February 15, 2022November 7, 2008 by Orna Ross

I consider Glendalough, Co Wicklow, Ireland, to be one of the most inspiring places on earth. It's where Iseult Gonne is buried and where some chapters of But A Dream, the third book in my WB Yeats trilogy are set. I spent as much time as possible there when I lived in Ireland, especially while researching that novel.

This poem is a tribute to all that was given to me there.

Time Out At Glendalough

After you have walked the ruins
of seven churches,
tilted back your head to seek the top
of the tower that took
the rounded point
of Kevin’s steeple
and thrust it up,
three times as high,
from earth to sky to mark
the ground you walk upon
as holy;

after you have circled green lake paths
that urge you up, then further up,
to top the crashing
waterfall, then
higher;

after you’ve been stopped and stopped again,
by sight of ice-sliced mountain cut to valley
its mesh of rivers and falls,
rushing to empty all into two, long lakes
that somehow take this ceaseless gush
and hold it
still,

you will know
the allure of here,
as of all the places we call sacred,
is the silence.

You will have heard
the voice
of your own blood
dropping into
the deep.

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