Aisling McEvoy with Mountrath CS principal Kathryn O’Brien
A CREATIVE Mountrath CS student has had her first poem published in an anthology, after winning first place in a national competition.
Sixth year student Aisling McEvoy wrote her poem ‘Ode to Affliction’ during the summer of 2021, while on holidays in Kerry during the pandemic.
She entered the poem in a competition with the Anansi Archive and is thrilled to have her poem published in their new anthology ‘Confessions of a Clockwalker’.
Aisling started writing during transition year and has been involved in writing projects ever since. She says she never imagined that her prize-winning ode would be her most successful poem to date.
She said: “I am so grateful for the opportunity and so excited to see my name on the page in a book.”
Congratulating Aisling on her achievement, school principal Kathryn O’Brien said everyone at the school looked forward to reading more of Aisling’s work in years to come.
The Anansi Archive is a not-for-profit writing community, committed to supporting all levels of literary endeavour. Through an online forum, competitions and advice, it aims to nurture and encourage the art of the written word, across the full spectrum from absolute beginners to seasoned veterans seeking a fresh outlet for their work.
Here is Aisling’s evocative poem:
Ode to Affliction
I fell in love with misery,
The darkness at my door.
It punched me ‘til I gasped for breath,
And then I asked for more.
I’d watch it through the window,
Waiting for the day,
That misery would swallow me,
And take it all away.
I took a chance on hope.
It’d come to me in waves.
But it’d migrate like the swallows,
Then I’d feel nothing for days.
I turned back to anger,
It made me feel okay,
But when the feeling split my bones,
I found another way.
My last friend was numbness.
It took me by the hand.
Together we watched the waves crash in.
They found me on the sand.
