“The Swimmer” In tribute to Olympian Gary O’Toole

The Swimmer: In tribute to Olympian Gary O’Toole

The surface of the pool was pierced, by the power of muscle, skin and bone,
arm over arm he reached out to grasp the water, the swimmer all alone,
splash, splash, arm over arm, the beat of the engine of the swimmer,
above the water pull! stroke one more time,
under water the sound and light much dimmer,
kick, splash, pull, push,stroke,rise,fall, bend,
once, twice,three times more, touch wall , surface ,end.

Adrian McKenna is a frontline child care professional; he has worked for many years with young people and adults in residential care, detention services, mental health services and post-adoption services. He currently works with a large Dublin-based charity. He is a Member of The Irish Association of Social Care Workers, Social Justice Ireland and the YES Campaign for Children.

All views expressed are entirely my own unless otherwise stated and are not representative of any organisation or employer past , present or future.

“The Fidgety Fan Fooly” another children’s poem

A Few more Poems for your Perusal:

The Fidgety Fan Fooly:

The fidgety fan fooly
flipped from rock to rock
he flapped his wings
and pricked his ears much like doctor spock

he flipped and flapped
and flopped and flew
and tiddled and taddled and tapped
he skipped and skaddled
and bibbled and babbled
and around a tree he wrapped

higher and higher, ah much higher than that
he flew into the sky
then he swooped and looped and stooped and re-grouped
the fidgety fan fooly boy.

The Upsy Downsy:

upsy downsy lived on his head
walked on his hands
with his feet in the air
said hello from below
shook hands with his feet
and had very hangy down hair

he drank through his nose
and he ate with his toes
and wrote with an upside down pen
but most of all when he needed to pee
for his efforts he got nine out of ten

he wore his shoes on his hands
his gloves on his feet
and his legs stuck out of his top
he slept with his legs on the pillow
washed upside down in the shower
and fell out of bed with a plop

now, upsy downsy was oh so rare
that they caught him
and built him a housey
the floor was the ceiling
the doors upside down
and his friend was an upside down mousy.

Adrian McKenna is a frontline child care professional; he has worked for many years with young people and adults in residential care, detention services, mental health services and post-adoption services. He currently works with a large Dublin-based charity. He is a Member of The Irish Association of Social Care Workers, Social Justice Ireland and the YES Campaign for Children.

All views expressed are entirely my own unless otherwise stated and are not representative of any organisation or employer past , present or future.

“Deaths Last Breath”

This is A Short Story that I wrote many years ago:

The old man lay slumbered on the equally old armchair, the artist painted with the speed of a ferret on a riverbank, not knowing that the slumbering old man probably would never see this picture, he had taken his last breath, a breath tinged with the taste of oils on canvas and of turps on brushes, the painting was to be his one dimensional death mask.

Adrian McKenna is a frontline child care professional; he has worked for many years with young people and adults in residential care, detention services, mental health services and post-adoption services. He currently works with a large Dublin-based charity. He is a Member of The Irish Association of Social Care Workers, Social Justice Ireland and the YES Campaign for Children.

All views expressed are entirely my own unless otherwise stated and are not representative of any organisation or employer past , present or future.