Cead Fáilte
Welcome back to another episode of Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry
I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, returning again this week with more stories and poems from authors around the world.
This week, I have two stories and three poems for everyone
My first fiction story is from a new writer I found. Then, another episode of The gravediggers of Orpheus. The three poems I bring are written to make one think. The last two are about the war in Palestine and are a bit harsh. One is from an Australian woman who rages against imperialism on her Substack page, and my last one is from another activist who lives in the north of Ireland. I will do my best to record this poem in her own voice as she posted a video of herself reading this poem on her Substack page. Her voice is so much better than mine when it comes to this kind of poem. I will add their page links in the newsletters later today.
So gather round once more and let me read to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click the play button above to listen to this special show.
I will say that when I recorded Ramona McCloskey’s own reading of her poem, it turned out better than I expected. Her special Palestine poem is the very last one for the day. I hope anyone reading this takes some time to listen to her in the show.
That is the theme for today’s show, sort of. The first story is a bit of an activist kind of story if you read between the lines a bit, and the last two poems were definitely pro-Palestine poems. Although Caitlin Johnstone’s poem is more of a rage against the imperialists that are allowing all of this carnage to happen in the first place.
I subscribe to both of these people’s Substack pages and get their articles in my email box. I also subscribe to a lot of other people as well, both on Substack and Medium. I try to support all those I can, as I can, as funds allow.
I also subscribe to Jessica Wildfire, wherever she goes on the internet as well. But she doesn’t publish anything I would use for this show. I just wanted to giver her a shout out as she is struggling a bit now trying to find a stable platform to host her website. People like her need all the help they can get in these trying times.
I will say this again. This is what this podcast and newsletter are all about. To support all of those who write and are struggling to make ends meet from week to week. Some of you are doing okay financially and that is good too. I still want to do what I can to support writers struggling to make themselves stand out from the crowd. The very large crowd of world-wide online writers and poets.
This will continue for as long as I can. Maybe under a different name, sort of, soon but the stories and poems will still be there for all to hear on a weekly or semi-weekly basis.
If I do slow down a bit, I will probably lose my air spot on WAA Radio but that is okay. They aren’t paying me anything anyway. That’s what happens when you agree to work for a non-profit. You do so out of the kindness of your heart, or so they tell me.
Who knows, they may censor me anyway after the reading of these two poems today. No great loss if they do. This podcast airs in a time slot that only appeals to people working the evening or graveyard shift anyway. I have been told that it is mostly the trucking industry that listens to their radio show and we know that a majority of truck drivers are very conservative as a rule.
I am anticipating an email from the station manager next week regarding my selections for this week’s show telling me that people called in complaining about these poems. I have an answer for him if he does.
I am looking for more stories and poetry that support the Palestinians and to raise a voice to stop the genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and now, maybe Lebanon. If any of you have anything you wish to offer, I will be glad to read them for you here.
Feck the Americans and their corporate censors if they don’t like it.
That’s another thing you may start seeing a little more of as I become more angry at the world we find ourselves in. My Irish idioms are starting to bleed through a little bit more with my temper. Please excuse me. I am starting to lose my patience with these ijits that call themselves world leaders and elected politicians. This applies to all of the countries everywhere, including Ireland.
I read another newsletter from Sinn Féin this week talking about how they have lost a generation of young professionals who have left Ireland for Australia and Canada as there are no houses or apartments available or affordable in Ireland anymore. Notice I did not say the United States. No one but the uninformed poor want to come to America anymore.
In the U.S., Canada, and Australia, affordable and available housing is a big issue as well. I won’t even mention the UK as they are in a category all to themselves.
But I digress. This is how angry I have become as I watch the world start to go up in flames everywhere.
If you want to hear me rail against the wealthy elites now and again, check out my other podcast, The Village Oak Tree. That is where I don’t pull any punches in my anger at the world and the United States in particular, since they seem to have instigated most of the conflagrations going on in the last fifty years or so.
Let me leave off here with the links to this week’s stories and poems to read as you listen to the audio podcast above.
Songbirds
…Let’s scream into the void. Spec-Fic Short Story.
HUMBLED BY THE WORLD.
Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for reading this, and (I hope) listening to the stories and poems I brought to the world this week. Please support these writers in their struggles by clapping on Medium, liking and, especially, subscribing, if you can, everywhere else to support all of those whom I have mentioned in this week’s newsletter. Sláinte
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “May the Gods bless you as you toil about your world. May the world finally free the Palestinians from the grip of their oppressors soon”. Slán go fóill — goodbye for now.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
Crann na beatha Stories and Poetry