Mary Wilkinson's Writings
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Article
Nov.26.2008
Be available
Aim to please
Say yes
Say yes, of course
Say no problem
Smile
Be good
Listen up
Don't look inward
Help and give
Never complain
Love others
Don't speak out of line
Never tell lies
Use your knife and your fork
Kiss Mama good night
Sweet dreams
Feel the sunshine on your eyelids
Count the raindrops
Frosted cobwebs on clothes line
Bends in the road
Anti...
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Nov.19.2008
The Quiet Quarter, RTE Lyric FM www.lyricfm/ie
The Prologue
It is in a steam filled November kitchen that I first come to know Christmas. I am the child standing on a chair alongside my mother. I am slipping almonds from their brown skin. Mountains of flour and fruit and candied peel line the counter top. Pyramids of golden sugar glisten. The only sounds are of stirring and grating, cutting and mixing. ...
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Article
Nov.08.2008
broadcast on Lyric FM (A Quiet Quarter)
I walk past the store many times before I muster up the courage to go in. I even try to look casual like a woman strolling on an Autumn street, window shopping, relishing that last kiss of token sunshine on my skin. The bag is heavy in my hand, the plastic handle chafes my fingers. It did not appear heavy that night hanging in the wardrobe, in fact, I was...
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Poem
Oct.31.2008
A cold cafe
drinking au-lait
frothy lips
Rachmaninov
aches the love
the ring slips
Embers kindled
wheels are spindled
tightened grips
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Poem
Oct.31.2008
Through an open door
of forest green -
framed
Joseph kneels.
A thin shaft of light
falls on him,
on the steam from his breath
and the sweet kindling
he gathers
to warm me.
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Article
Oct.30.2008
RTE Radio programme: A Living Word
When I come out of my motel in Los Angeles and look up at the sky
the words 'have a beautiful day' are etched into the blue.
On the street, sleek convertibles glide by and women with their morning lattes in hand walk their pooches in that casual way that is indigenous to California.
Down a ways I watch a woman approaching in a crab like fashion, each step...
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Article
Oct.28.2008
personal journal
I was thinking about where all the pieces of joy were going to come from or if they were there anyway simply hanging from the tree branches like crimson coloured glass baubles sparkling in the dappled sunlight of a summer's evening. It could be about nine o'clock of an evening in June when the day clearly displays its reluctance to start drawing to a close and...
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Poem
Oct.26.2008
They put in a septic where the well used to be
and chopped down the ash and the sycamore tree
they bulldozed the hedgerow
and built a brick wall
put in lead windows
because authentic was all
it took them a while to decide
on what shape
the island counter in the kitchen should take
where their French cookware
could stand with ease
and cook up a storm designed to...
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Short Story
Oct.25.2008
the quiet quarter, anthology of new Irish Writing
For two days you've been sick, my little one. When at first the spots appeared they formed small clusters, tiny maps of countries, random speckles of red that gradually grew to cover your skin. Now they are like large continents flowing into one another until a massive fiery planet covers your body, your face. You are submerged by illness.
Just two days ago I...
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Short Story
Oct.23.2008
radio piece broadcast on RTE Lyric FM
Neighbour
The other day I came across a journal that I had kept of my life in the American Southwest. I had forgotten about the pages pulled from a notebook when packing to return to live in Ireland. On these tattered pieces of paper the loping handwriting portrays someone who seems like a stranger to me now. They paint a colourless picture of a suburban...
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there isn't enough of anything as long as we live. But at intervals a sweetness appears and, given a chance prevails.
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—Raymond Carver
About Mary
I live in the west of Ireland. I enjoy writing in many forms, prose, drama, poetry and short pieces for radio. I am also a fanatical baker.
Connections
Mary’s Favorite Books
Stag's Leap - Sharon Olds, The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde, The Bell Jar - Slyvia Plath, Unless - Carol Shields, A Moveable Feast - Hemingway, The Sea...
Mary is a fan of
