Dreaming with the Bard
by Seán Maguire
Literary tales traded with Dylan Thomas
during a dreamlike spell, at the Chelsea
hotel.
Witty banter, wilted
dry lips, dampened
by pitchers of beer
and whiskey chasers.
Weak breathing, theatre critics and poor
hearing, the top three catalysts for eternal
grieving.
Teenage Tricks
by Seán Maguire
In the mid-seventies, life spun in a parallel world,
my best friends were aliens, long before Star Wars,
E.T. or American Dad. Kids were entrusted to run
down schools, obsessed with rules and regulations,
adding to the frustrations of being misunderstood.
Music, and books kept me intact. I made Faustian
pacts with David Bowie, and Tom Sawyer.
When boredom struck, we split into groups to play
a game of ‘Brits and Rioters’. It was like the real thing.
Bricks and Bottles rained down on those without riot
shields (dustbin lids), waves of pretend snatch squads
used sticks instead of batons. The chases were great
fun and kept us on our toes, there was no obesity then.
The highlight of Saturday afternoon was ‘Big Daddy’
and ‘Giant Haystacks’ sporting straight faces as they
wrestled with reality. We swam in lakes and pools,
did country walks stole our parent’s beer, smoked
cigarettes, but our biggest fear was talking to girls,
at the Tuesday night disco.
First published in The Children of the Nation, An Anthology of Working People’s Poetry from Contemporary Ireland Culture Matters (2019).
A Still Night
by Seán Maguire
Silence along the road, as the sun
went down, waiting for stars to light,
flight paths for swooping owls.
The night crawled towards, dawn.
A sly fox spied a field mouse,
in mid yawn.
A new day came. Nature’s nightshift
clocked off in time, for the return trip,
to beat the morning rush hour.
First published in Poetry in Motion Anthology, Community Arts Partnership (April 2019)
Biography
Seán Maguire was born in 1960 in Belfast and now lives in Newry County Down. In 1998, a poetry Chapbook 
Harvest Soul was published by Sessyu Press. Other poetry chapbooks were published including History Tomorrow 2005 and For Those left Behind 2017. He’s had poems published in literary webzines and anthologies such as The Honest Ulsterman, Pangolin Review, nine muses poetry, The Children of the Nation, An Anthology of Working People’s Poetry from Contemporary Ireland, Culture Matters and Poetry in Motion, (part of the annual Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing), run by The Community Arts Partnership Belfast. One of his short stories, Window Pain will feature in From the Plough to the Stars. An anthology of working people’s prose from contemporary Ireland in November. Seán has a range of qualifications including a BA (Hons) Degree in Humanities/English Literature and is a professional member of the Irish Writers Centre.
