Holy Isle Retreat: Maeve O’Sullivan

this wee island birthed from Lamlash Bay

* * *
mandala garden –
a pair of chaffinches
over the daffodil beds

* * *

Good Friday:
a blackbird moves the earth
by the Buddha’s thigh

* * *

fragrant rosemary
in the wish-fulfilment garden
mother’s roast lamb

* * *

mistle thrush the birding website says it isn’t here

* * *

the blackbird
with a single white feather
pecks at my apple core

* * *

wood-burning stove
releasing into night wind
smoke from old prayer flags

* * *

departure day I sweep up dead skin cells regrowth

Holy Isle Retreat (haiku sequence)

by Maeve O’Sullivan

Maeve O’Sullivan’s poetry and haikai have been widely published, anthologized, awarded and translated. She has five collections with Alba Publishing, the most recent being Wasp on the Prayer Flag (2021). Maeve leads workshops in haiku poetry, and is a professional member of the Irish Writers’ Centre and the British Haiku Society.

Website:        www.maeveosullivan.com

Twitter / X:    www.twitter.com/writefromwithin

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