BLOG
Welcome to our blog. Here you can read what Mike and Esther have been up to plus read some of our other works, which includes poetry and journal articles.
9 May 2017
Update to Sniff and the Pirates and Mike's short story Me and Tim Malloy have been uploaded.
30 October 2016
OK so we've decided to put some of our as yet unpublished children's books up on the site. Enjoy!
16 October 2016
In September Mike and Esther visited the stunning location in County Down where his ancestor John Fitzpatrick was born. John's father Patt Fitzpatrick had died during the famine and John's mother and brother left Ireland for Liverpool. Mike tracked down some not so distant cousins and this is the poem he wrote for them.
A Poem for My People
My Patt, all famished and fevered
And all broken in his body and spirit
Looked across the water one last time.
God Himself came down,
Wrapped him in a blanket
And took him home.
My Maggie soldiered on;
Her spirit would never yield,
But it was time to leave.
The sky pelted down its rain and hail
Like the rocks scattered across the Mournes;
The sea was black and so were all her dreams.
But it is not that way today.
Here today I’m sitting looking out over Dundrum Bay
And across the Irish Sea.
The water is silver and it shimmers and sparkles
Like a million Irish eyes.
The breeze on my back is warm from the sun-kissed Mountains of Mourne.
So even if I wanted to be sad I couldn’t;
Not here, not today.
What was lost has been found
And it will never be lost again.
I have found my place
And I have found my people.
Marian is wise like the Mournes themselves,
I wish I could have sat at her feet for a longer time.
When Mick laughs I laugh too
And when he has a tear in his eye so do I.
When Bridget’s arms reach out to hold me,
I feel her love flow into my soul.
And when I look at that place over the water on a clear day, where the sea meets the sky,
I see Margaret’s eyes smiling at me.
12 October 2016
Esther got through her PhD oral with flying colours - congratulations Dr Fitzpatrick! We will put excerpts from Esther's thesis up in due course.