by Mary McKSchmidt | Mar 30, 2026 | 2026, Blog Post
Walking a never-ending ascent to a bluff overlooking the Bandon River outside Kinsale, Ireland, I see a gate painted fire-engine red, adorned with daffodils. On the gate is a plaque framed in gold with bold letters, We Will Never Forget. Stunned, I...
by Mary McKSchmidt | Mar 23, 2026 | 2026, Poetry
A third of the way across the Bandon River bridge,gale winds threaten to hurl me off the sidewalk and onto the path of the oncoming cars. I am loatheto admit defeat, turn back, retrace hard-won steps enroute to the fort, the first one built to defend the harbor. And...
by Mary McKSchmidt | Mar 16, 2026 | Blog Post, 2026
Our decision to remain in the same place for a week or so at a time as we explore Ireland was just what I needed. I do not feel like a tourist, more like one discovering the secrets of a new home. Every journey by foot. Every trip out the red door of this historic...
by Mary McKSchmidt | Mar 8, 2026 | Poetry, 2026
Only the bedspread is blue, a bedroom where bay windows are a lens into life inside a forest. It is not the sunny vista discussed every morning she awakened to my presence, but in this room every morning, I feel her presenceand am anything but blue. “Hello, my...
by Mary McKSchmidt | Feb 23, 2026 | Poetry, 2026
How storm clouds swallowing the horizon seem to dissipatewhen I have no access to anythingbut you and meand this moment. How I wish to retreatinto this cocoon of comfortforever, never again to feel suffering for which I have no...
