Poetry Day Ireland is an annual island-wide celebration of poetry which invites the nation to read, write, and share a poem on the day.
Presented by Poetry Ireland, the theme for this year is "Good Sports" celebrating the good sport in all of us, the drive to give it a go or to have a crack at it.
Read Rosemary Jenkinson's poem Pommel Horse below.
Pommel Horse
For Rhys McClenaghan
.
He slaps the horse's hide
Into plumes of white floury chalk
As his hands pirouette on the smallest stage,
His skin patting the leather
Until he grips the pommels, and feet
Pointed like a ballerina in the air,
He spins, scissors, spindles and flares.
The suspense is in the fractions
Between victory and defeat-one slip
Of the hand and it’s almost out of his grasp;
A gasp, but he arcs and arrows,
Circling five times like five Olympic rings,
And with one last swing of the hips
Traces the shape of a golden medal
And handstands into a land of blind belief.
Find out more about Poetry Day Ireland here.
