Poet Profile

Marion Clarke

Marion is a writer and artist from the east coast of Northern Ireland. After spending over a decade studying and working in France and England, she and her husband returned to her hometown in Warrenpoint in the year 2000 to be closer to the family after their first child was born. She works part time in a local nursery school and spends the rest of her time writing, painting, cooking and teaching her children French. Her work has appeared in a few anthologies, both mainstream poetry and haiku titles, including AHA The Anthology, edited by Jane Reichold (AHA Books, California 2012) and Bamboo Dreams – the first national collection of haiku from Ireland (Doghouse Books, Ireland September 2012).

Awards and Other Honors: Sakura Award, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Competition International Category (2012); Highly Commended, Irish Haiku Society International Competition (2011); Overall winner of Every Day Poets 'Great big little poems' Competition; poem selected for The Haiku Foundation's Per Diem Feature (July 2014).

Monday blues—
the thrush stops to sing
between pecks

skinny dipping—
one small step to land
on the moon

duck pond
my son pokes
the sun

canal bank . . .
each cherry tree touching
its neighbour

grandma's kitchen . . .
a star-covered teacup
for the gypsy lady

riptide unable to help myself

Credits: "Monday blues" - Shamrock Journal 22 (2012); "duck pond" - Frogpond 36.2 (2013); "grandma's kitchen" - Frogpond (Autumn 2012); "skinny dipping" - Winner, Every Day Poets Great Big Little Poems Competition; "canal bank" - Sakura Award winner, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Competition [International Category] (2012); "riptide" - Tinywords 13.1 (March 2013).