Read Words to Tie to Bricks Online

Authors: Claire Hennesy

Words to Tie to Bricks

BOOK: Words to Tie to Bricks
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First published in 2013 by
CTYI Press
Centre for Talented Youth Ireland, Dublin City University, Dublin 9

All rights © 2013 Centre for Talented Youth Ireland

Paperback
eBook – mobi format
eBook – ePub format
CreateSpace edition

    

ISBN: 978 1 909483 385
ISBN: 978 1 909483 392
ISBN: 978 1 909483 408
ISBN: 978 1 909483 415

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, filming, recording,
video recording, photography, or by any information storage and retrieval system, nor shall by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The right of each contributor to be identified as the author of his or her work has been asserted by him or her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.

All characters and events featured in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or
dead, organisation or event, is purely coincidental. Any mistakes are the author’s own.

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Kazoo Independent Publishing Services is not the publisher of this work. All rights and responsibilities pertaining to this work remain with the CTYI Press.

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Cover design by Andrew Brown
Printed in the EU

Contents

Foreword

Notes from the Authors

Anthology of Writing 2013

Heavy Heart

I still remember how you take your coffee in the morning

Success

Even Now, Even Here, Beautiful

A Summer’s Evening

A Gentleman’s Guide To Playing With Your Food

Flight

A Broken Us

Deep

Home

Yellow

My End

An Introduction To Me

Silence

Made of Glass

I Did It

Slammed Receiver

Fading Spirit

The Second

With the Birds

We Regret to Inform You, Madame

Home

Haiku

To My Redo Button

Off to the Right

Dust on the Tracks

Immortal Jellyfish

Give It To Me Straight

Check the Box

On the Other Hand, Flowers

Unrequited Love

The Routine

The Sense of a Meal

Young Love (Sestina)

Bygones

You Are Now, Always Have Been, and Forever Will Be an

Florabotanica

Smile

Cyborg

Soaked To My Blood

Frosty Windshields, Glass & Cellar Doors

Run

The Clichés Are Ready and Waiting

Needles and Knives

Entropy

To Find a Name

Those Temptations

A Frozen Life

She Said

Damp Tissues

Painting in the Dark

Or Don’t

The Shadows

Beautiful Gas Mask

Three Balanced Meals

Little World of Faith

Off-piste

I thought wrong

Glitter

Filling the Void

First Day

The Trials of Miss Elisa

Irrationality

A Walk along the Brussels Road

Just relax

Mistaken

Eve

Even This Much Chocolate Couldn’t Make Us Sweet

My Prison

Heels against the Cobblestone An Interlude

A Wet and Foggy Season

Just let me sleep

If I Left

Notes on contributors

Foreword

W
ORKING AS THE DIRECTOR OF
an organisation that celebrates the potential of high-ability students can be a humbling experience when I realise that
there are teenagers, and quite often also younger children, who are in many ways smarter than I will ever be. The book that you are reading now further reinforces this opinion.

CTY Ireland is a place where young people who excel in different academic and creative areas get a chance to meet other students of similar ability and hopefully share some common ground. The
outcome of this programme regularly exceeds our highest expectations. The work produced is of the highest standard as students get a chance to work at their own pace and engage fully with subjects
that are of interest to them. Socially, friendships are made and these can often be lifelong connections.

It has been my privilege to work for this organisation for the past 20 years (yes, that is older than the eldest of the contributors to this book) and over 50,000 students have passed through
the doors of CTY Ireland in that period. One of the main goals of the organisation is to challenge academically talented students at a level appropriate to their ability rather than their age. This
book allows us to turn this potential into something real.

I’m delighted that any profits from this book will go to St Michael’s House that does such great work with people who have intellectual disabilities. With the headquarters across the
road from us here at Dublin City University it seems the perfect fit for this book.

Finally I would like to congratulate all the contributors to this book, our fantastic CTY Ireland students and in particular a great former student, the teacher Claire Hennessy. Claire, your
dedication to this project makes it worth at least a shortlist for the Booker prize.

 

Enjoy the book.

Colm O’Reilly

Director

CTY Ireland

Notes from the Authors

To the unprepared reader
– We promise there are explanations. We’re just not including them, and you should probably be grateful.

To the prepared reader
– Please refer to the previous point. You cannot possibly be prepared.

To the parents
– Look at what you’ve released upon the world. Also, we don’t need counselling, in case you were wondering.

To the siblings
– I’m in a book. Take that. Also: All the mean bits are inspired by you. Congratulations.

To the friends
– I hope you remain so after you read that one piece. You know the one.

To the pets
– Good money was probably spent on this book. Stop eating it.

To the acquaintances
– This is probably more than you wanted to know.

To the teachers
– I told you I was special.

To the haters
– Don’t hate the poet, hate the poem.

To our sworn enemies, the philosophy students
– We have a book, you don’t exist. Who’s the winner here?

To the romantic partners
– We swear this is not about you. Unless you want it to be. In which case, it totally is. XOXO

To the ex-romantic partners
– This is all about you. Unless you want it to be, in which case it isn’t.

To the future romantic partners
– This isn’t as bad as it looks. By the way, if you find a poem tied to a brick and a broken window in your front
room, don’t be alarmed. It’s a sign of affection, we swear.

To our fellow pathetic writers-to-be
– Look how much you can do. Keep your chin up. We’re all terrible together. Also, group therapy could be
fun.

To the CTYI staff
– Thanks for taking a chance on us. We hope you’re not crying.

To the world
– Whoops. Our bad.

Lots of love, Anthology of Writing Class 2013

xoxox

Anthology of Writing 2013

L
IST OF
C
ONTRIBUTORS

Catherine Bowen

Amy Campbell

Sean Ceroni

Grace Collins

Samuel H. Doyle

Andrew Duffy

Caelen Feller

Conor Kelleher

Hannah-Rose Manning

Carol McGill

Orla McGovern

Anna Mulligan

Hannah O’Boyle

Emma Shevlin

Cahal Sweeney

Instructor:
Claire Hennessy

Teaching assistant:
Emily Collins

 

Heavy Heart

E
MMA
S
HEVLIN

I’m writing this to show you

I’m writing this to say

That what I feel inside me,

It just won’t go away.

I find it weighs me down,

It burns just like a fire.

The mass of my emotions,

The density of my desire.

I’ve found a way to let you know

How much
I love you,
dear.

Forget the window,

Treasure the brick,

That you find lying here.

I still remember how you take your coffee in the morning

H
ANNAH
O’B
OYLE

There are still crumbs on the desk

from that cake you bought me

when my favourite uncle died

and I was barely eating.

The carpet is still worn

from the time you tried

to teach me how to dance,

and I stepped on your toes.

The petals have fallen

from the flowers you gave

the last time you smiled at me.

I guess that means something.

BOOK: Words to Tie to Bricks
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