The Ogham Stone’s Poem of the Week is ‘Under the Lights at Pride’ by Martin Olivares from our 2020 edition.

Have you ever thought about writing a play? Could you do it on one page?
The Ogham Stone 2021 is running a competition for a Flash Play – and no – it’s not what it sounds like!
If you want to give it a try, then all you have to do is write a play on one page (no more than 500 words) and submit it.
Just go for it! The winner will have his/her/their play published in the Ogham Stone 2021 – AND – the winning play will hopefully be filmed (ooooooh!) on campus as soon as restrictions, or lack of, allow.
RECAP
One Page Play
No more than 500 words
Competition entry is free
One submission per person
Not open to students currently working on the production of the 2021 Ogham Stone.
Deadline: 31st January 2021
Submissions now open – please use the online platform ‘Submittable’ by clicking on the link below and following the instructions, to make a free account at:
https://theoghamstone.submittable.com/submit
GO WILD !!!!
Happy writing and best regards,
THE OGHAM STONE TEAM
We consider unpublished work from Irish and international authors. We intend to publish a mix of fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, translation, and memoir.
HOW TO SUBMIT
SOME OTHER DETAILS
We are delighted to share the Ogham Stone ebook with you. To download, the click on the image of preferred eBook format below.
Tom Muldoon
He lay on the ground, panting and shaking, like a distressed athlete after a marathon run.
Some welcome, some homecoming, he thought.
A returning emigrant, he had been looking forward to this visit to his old home, the land of his birth, after so many years abroad.
They had been waiting for him. They knew he was coming, these cruel deceitful people who had lured him to his death which now came swiftly with a sharp rap of the priest to the base of his skull, severing his spinal cord.
His obituary was written the following day.
“A gourmet’s delight
The first wild salmon of the season, hollandaise on the side”.
Biography
Tom Muldoon (August 4 1938-April 26 2020) was born in Castleblayney Co Monaghan. He received scholarships to attend St Macartin’s secondary school and later University College Dublin where he obtained a degree in engineering. He spent his career in the ESB involved in the development of the service nationwide. In the later stages of his career he worked with ESB International in Ghana for many years again developing their electrical infrastructure. Tom died after a short illness at the height of the COVID19 restrictions. We didn’t know our father as a writer. Alone with our loss, without the usual family and friends, it was a treasure to find this as it epitomizes much about him. His sense of fun, and fair play and his connection to Ireland and Irish culture. He would be delighted to see it published and we hope others enjoy it.
The Muldoon Family
By Kayla Latta
I lie on the sand, and I think of my mother
brushing my hair. Each stroke through my curls coincides
with the crashing waves around my body. My scalp aches at the memory
while my skin prickles from the rush of cold water and salt. I wish she were here,
so she could wipe away the bits of seaweed and sand, the way she used to clear
the sleep from the corners of my eyes. With each new wave, my body
is coated in another layer of salt until I am encrusted. Crystallized.
###
When the tide comes in, I am carried out to the open sea.
I float into the night like driftwood, or shipwrecks, or a heavy sigh
released from heavy lips. Perhaps I will be taken to the edge of the world
and fall right off. Hic sunt dracones. Here be dragons. I pray to the cold-water
moon to bring me home. Push, pull, mother of tides, be my guide. Be my guide.
I hear her with the dawn. Quiet at first. Now louder. When she calls my name,
my shell breaks into pieces that fall into the darkness below. There she is,
tiny on the distant shore, still calling for me. I swim to her.
By Eve Taft
Little blue-green terrarium spins
Goldilocks distant from atom-smashing ball of heat
Which whirls through the void, carrying with it the eight
Who depend on its life-giving brilliance
It carries them through the suburb of a starry city
Build around a hole in the universe
Insatiable, tiny bipeds explore
Little blue-green terrarium
And then tilt their heads upwards
They go flying through the dark matter
Searching for new stars and new life
They play capture the flag with their moon
And send out glass eyes to find light
From the beginning of everything
Infinite universe keeps getting bigger
Tiny bipeds magnify its building blocks
And map its edges
They write stories about the shapes of the stars
And study them, writing libraries worth of knowledge
Blue-green terrarium spins on
And tiny bipeds boldly go
Where no one has gone before