Ireland’s ‘I’s

I is for ILAC

Smiling I recall, the big day out, the feet worn out, the spree coming to an end,

Last stop, the ilac centre, the last punts and pennies spent.

– Therese Kieran

I is for Inchicore home of St Pat’s,

Soccer supremos, red and white scarves and hats.

– Richie Keane

I for Inis Mac Neasáin, the isle of Ireland’s Eye,

Inky, without inhabitants, an idyll of sea and sky.

– Catherine Ann Cullen

I’s for Inis Mac Neasín – Ireland’s Eye of County Dublin’s coast,

sail there in the blink of an eye from the historic harbour at Howth.

– Mary B Shannon

I is for Inner City.

Abandoned buildings. Architectural splendour. In decay.

Inner city. Deeply despondent. In dismay.

– Stephen J Bolger

I is for all the inns, currently shut,

the long halls, the lounges, the bars and the snugs.

The glasses unpolished, the brass getting yellow.

We must drown our sorrows with nowt to swallow.

– Nessa O’Mahony

I is for the Irish Independent since January nineteen and five, Home once more to New Irish Writing which helps new writers and poets survive.

– Mary B Shannon

I is for the Irish Times broadsheet first published in eighteen fifty nine

Its iconic illuminated clock and irreverent Cruiskeen Lawn

– Mary B Shannon

“I” is for Island and Islands are Books

A Book is a Bookshop

A Bookshop is a Town

Which Town I guess? Dublin Town.

Dublin is a spaceship for maniacs of rain, the rain is for reading, reading is for books and books are Islands.

I wish for an Irish Island.

– Arjuna Cecchetti

Islandbridge

When you were Sarah’s bridge, you were named to honour Aristocracy

You took the name of the island surrounds when Ireland claimed its own Democracy

– Maura McDonnell

I for the Iveagh Gardens where ivies intertwine,

Inviting isolation, ideal, rain or shine.

– Catherine Ann Cullen

I is for Iveagh House

Home to the Department of Foreign Affairs

Locus of risers and fallers on the palatial staircase.

– Marie Studer