Poetry Day Ireland is an annual, all-island celebration dedicated to reading, writing, and sharing poetry, organized by Poetry Ireland.
The theme for Poetry Day Ireland 2026 is "Home", a theme that is significant as poetry has a new 'home' on the island as Poetry Ireland returns to its headquarters at No. 11 Parnell Square, in Dublin's city centre.
Enjoy a poem for Poetry Day Ireland by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin below, and check out Poetry Ireland's set of 12 poems on the theme of Home here.
The House Remembered
The house persists, the permanent
scaffolding while the stones move round.
Convolvulus winds the banisters, sucks them down;
we found an icicle under the stairs
tall as a church candle;
it refused to answer questions
but proved its point by freezing hard.
The house changes, the stones
hidden under dry lichen spreading
abusing the doorposts, frost on the glass.
Nothing stays still, the house is still the same
but the breast over the sink turned into a tap
and coming through the door all fathers look the same.
The stairs and windows waver but the house stands up;
peeling away the walls another set shows through
and somebody was born in every room.
From Collected Poems (2020)
Find out more about Poetry Day Ireland 2026 here
