Raised on Songs and Stories...

By Clare O'Reilly

What many of us find challenging in life is to reach an understanding of existence. We search around for meaning in the strangest of places. Clare O’Reilly started with words and when the poems and images came, she was grateful. Often sad and sometimes tumultuous, her poems represent snapshots of her own experience and observations.
This evocative and diverse collection portrays the fragility of the human condition and our complex emotions. By sharing her insights. Clare has managed to turn some of her dreams, longings and disappointments into one big positive, finally achieving the self-empowerment she has long hoped for.
In the words of Allen Ginsberg, the American poet: ‘Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.’
Clare’s hope for Raised on Songs and Stories is that readers will find much to absorb them, allowing reflection and understanding to continue in earnest at some distance past the final page.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781398427129

Clare O'Reilly

Clare likes to write poetry on various subjects including friendship, love and unrequited love, struggles with mental health issues, social issues, inclusivity and the power of individuality. She grew up in Raheny and studied Irish and French at Trinity College Dublin. Clare has had several poems published in magazines over the years, two short stories published in the Womans Way and also has written several memoir-type stories.

Book preview

About the Author

Clare likes to write poetry on various subjects including friendship, love and unrequited love, struggles with mental health issues, social issues, inclusivity and the power of individuality.

She grew up in Raheny and studied Irish and French at Trinity College Dublin.

Clare has had several poems published in magazines over the years, two short stories published in the Womans Way and also has written several memoir-type stories.

Dedication

Dedicated to my wonderful family.

I was a child once

I skipped and I played

Oh, how I yearn for those carefree days

The games in the garden

And the daisy chains that I made.

Clare O’Reilly

Raised on Songs and Stories…

Copyright © Clare O’Reilly (2021)

The right of Clare O’Reilly to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398427112 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398427129 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published in this collection (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my friends who have encouraged me and Dennis Grieg, of Lapwing Publications in Belfast who was also very supportive when I published some poems under my pen name ‘Dawn Rock’.

Preamble

It was inevitable that I would write poetry. My inspiration came from everything, from the nursery rhymes in early primary school to the hymns we sang at mass to the rock and pop songs of my teenage years. I was always writing lists of words that rhymed, the lyricism in them appealed to me. I remember that day in English class at 15 when I heard those words of Shakespeare:

‘Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;

But you shall shine more bright in these contents