Tag: MACgeopark

Geopark Poetry Map Prompts 14

~ sojourningsmith ~ Leave a comment

Hello all you earth lovers and poetry lovers! Geoheritage poetry is for you! And we hope you will submit poems inspired by a wide array of sites across the wide Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark so we can put them onto our digital Geopark Poetry Map which will go live in October 2021. And why, you might ask, have you not covered the Marble Arch Caves or Cuilcagh Mountain Park already? Well, for two good reasons. The first is that two of our commissioned poets have bagged those sites as the focus of their own poems. The second reason is that the iconic Marble Arch Caves are sometimes wrongly considered the whole of the MACGeopark. Part of this Geopark Poetry Map exercise is to rectify that misapprehension. The Caves and the Cuilcagh Mountain Boardwalk, nicknamed the Stairway to Heaven, are two of the most heavily visited sites in the Geopark, but the Geopark is so much more.

Today I am going to conclude this series of geoheritage poetry ‘sparks’ to inspire poems for the Geopark Poetry Map with two sites in County Fermanagh that have been put in the shade by the better known neighbours. The first is a dramatic viewpoint that can beat even the breathtaking expanses seen from Marlbank. The Magho Cliffs offer, on a clear day, an unparalleled prospect.

Magho Cliffs

The spectacular view from this location is arguably one of the most dramatic in Ireland. The
bird’s eye view of Lower Lough Erne and its islands allows you, on a clear day, to see the
rounded Sperrin Mountains to the east, the Blue Stack Mountains to the north, and Slieve
League, Donegal Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

The most striking feature from this location is Lower Lough Erne itself with its breathtaking
size only really appreciated from a viewpoint like this. Like so many places on the island of Ireland, the present landscape is a direct result of the last glaciation, which ended around 13,000 years ago. The valley that is now occupied by Lower Lough Erne probably contained a pre-existing river and was a v-shaped valley.

Glaciers usually follow the easiest route along which to flow, often a pre-existing river valley. The erosive power of glaciers, resulting from the debris embedded within the ice, changed the original v-shape of this valley to form a wider u-shaped valley. Further evidence for this is the presence of many drumlin islands in the lake, formed as glaciers moved across the valley floor. Once the glaciers melted, sea-levels rose and this huge valley became flooded and formed the over-deepened glacial lake that we now call Lower Lough Erne. The drumlin islands of Lower Lough Erne are clearly visible from this location.

The Magho Cliffs themselves upon which the viewpoint is perched are a 9km long limestone escarpment dominating the southern shore and skyline of Lower Lough Erne. These are hugely significant in their own right both geologically and ecologically.

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnerships & Engagement

The other site I want to mention is Belmore Forest. Drive up towards the village of Boho (pronounced like the gentleman caller – beau) from Blacklion’s Holy Well. You pass Margaret Gallagher’s Cottage on the way, which has been kept exactly as her ancestors lived in it.

Boho Village is worth a stop if you are like me and like to wander around graveyards. They have an impressive High Cross and some very cool skull and cross bones on gravestones. (You can see those at Drumlane Abbey, too.)

Boho High Cross

Belmore Forest is above and beyond the village, which is prime caver country. It also hosts Pollnagollam Falls which fans of Game of Thrones will recognise as one of the series’ sets filmed in Northern Ireland.

Pollnagollam Falls

Belmore Mountain lies above the village of Boho in western Fermanagh and is substantively
covered in coniferous forestry. Belmore Mountain with a summit roughly 398 metres, is the
second highest point in Fermanagh and provides breathtaking views of Boho, Lower Lough
Erne, Lough Navar and to the east, Brougher Mountain with its distinctive television masts
on top.

The forest is at the heart of Fermanagh`s Boho cave country and beneath your feet lies an
extensive maze of caves which attract cavers and potholers from far and wide. The geology
of Belmore Forest is dominated by limestone, which is found as horizontal layers (beds) that
formed at the bottom of a shallow tropical sea over 340 million years ago, during the Lower
Carboniferous period. A viewing platform at Pollnagollum Cave provides a great vantage
point to see the impressive cave entrance which is fed by a beautifully cascading waterfall
toppling down a 12 metre limestone cliff to disappear into the depths of darkness. The
viewing platform is located in a feature known as a collapsed doline, these form when a
cavity is hollowed in this case in the limestone rocks below by a process of dissolution and
then collapses. The first exploration of this cave was undertaken by two cavers known
as Édouard-Alfred Martel and naturalist Lyster Jameson in 1895 (the same gentlemen who
explored the nearby Marble Arch Caves) and during Victorian times the cave was opened as
a show cave. Depending on the time of day and year keep a watchful eye out for bats and
birds around the cave entrance.

One of the most intriguing mammals found in the Belmore uplands in addition, to bats is the
Irish hare. Unique to Ireland, the Irish hare is arguably our oldest surviving mammal having
been present on the island since before the last Ice Age.

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnerships & Engagement

Here’s a bit of video ambience.

Boho, Fermanagh and Pollnagollam Falls & Cave

You have until 15th June 2021 to submit your geoheritage themed poem on any of these Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark.

I hope they inspire you to write poems of every sort .Please see the comment from Day 13 where a follower has posted what was sparked by that blog posted yesterday.

Poetry writing has an important place in our lives during all times, but, I feel, especially during an pandemic. It is good for our minds and souls to express ourselves in writing. Because, as Jane Hirshfield has noted, a good poem offers us a surprise. She also reckons that poems offer a sense of hiddeness and uncertainty. While these past years have given us plenty of the latter, the element of surprise is often its reprieve. We may have had a lot of drama to process during this pandemic year and more, but what we may have lacked was genuine surprise. A good poem packs some of that.

I am eager to read all the poems submitted to GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com in the coming month. I hope to be surprised.

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Geopark Poetry Map Prompt 11

~ sojourningsmith ~ Leave a comment

Today I want to highlight not so much a site, but a geological feature that characterises the MACGeopark region – glacial erratics – those huge boulders and pedestal rocks that we find, especially close to Cavan Burren Forest. But I also have to say it is not unusual for you to see one that, having been unearthed when building a new home, becomes a front garden feature roundabouts. Which makes sense since our earliest ancestors saw them as aesthetic objects made of rock. They use them as their palette for some of the earliest examples of human art on this island. In terms of geoheritage topics you cannot beat the beauty, mystery and mystique surrounding glacial erratics. Surely, some poet can sing a hymn of praise to these earthly wonders for our Geopark Poetry Map!

This is an example of a type of glacial erratic, whereby the huge boulder would have been
left behind as the ice melted and retreated at the end of the last glaciation. The fact that the
boulder is a different type of rock from the underlying bedrock gives rise to the name ‘erratic’. This type of erratic is known as a pedestal rock and these features are relatively rare landforms. However, there is a significantly high concentration of pedestal rocks within Cavan Burren Park where they are considered to be of international significance. In order fora pedestal rock to form, the erratic must be deposited directly on top of the limeston
bedrock. Other glacial erratics within the forest have no pedestal suggesting that they were
transported within a mass of boulder clay and therefore came to be deposited on top of the
boulder clay and not directly on to bedrock. It is thought that the deposition of the huge
sandstone boulder directly on top of limestone acted as a barrier to erosion, as limestone
erodes readily in weak acidic water such as rainwater. If this is the case, then the amount of
erosion that has taken place since the end of the last glaciation is easily estimated as the
height of the limestone pedestal is the height that all of the limestone would have been whenthe erratic was deposited.

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnership & Engagement

Within Cavan Burren Park there is also a rare example of what is called a ‘modified glacial erratic.’ Signposted as ‘The Boulder Tomb’ it is thought that cremated remains were deposited in the niche created by the modifications. There is also rock art at this location. A small spring can be found towards the bottom of the incline. I have to agree with local ceramic artist Jim Fee that this part of Cavan Burren Park has a special and very peaceful presence.

Enter the site and walk towards the huge boulder in themiddle. It is best to view this feature from below so walk downhill before stopping. This is another example of a huge glacial erratic. It displays evidence of alteration by man with rock art on the top surface. This is another example of a pedestal rock with the erratic beingsandstone and the underlying pedestal being limestone. In this instance the limestone has been carved and has been identified as a prototype tomb. If you look carefully at the sandstone you will see that the layers are contorted in places. This is probably due to some form of disturbance before it became lithified, when the wet layers of sand were disturbed causing the water to be released.

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnership & Engagement

All the Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark sites are open to the public and now we are free to travel round the country. Northern Ireland has a bank holiday this weekend and the Republic will have one the first week of June. You may want to visit Cavan Burren Park and hug some of these glacial eratics to inspire some poems that will put them on our Geopark Poetry Map. Email GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com for submission guidelines. The closing date is 15th June 2021.

Glacial eratics in Cavan Burren Park

Geopark Poetry Map Prompts 10

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Hello Earth lovers and poetry writers! Day 10 of our MACGeopark Poetry Map prompts visits Tullydermot Falls. We are seeking geoheritage themed poems on various sites across Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark. MACGeopark, as we who know and love it refer to it for short, was the first international, cross-border Geopark on the planet given that it has sites in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, part of the UK, as well as sites in County Cavan, Republic of Ireland. The geology of the region carved by sliding ice sheets over millenia knows no international boundaries. MACGeopark came into being in 2004, Marble Arch Caves and Cuilcagh Mountain Park forming the original boundary. It later expanded into County Cavan, covering some 18,00 hectares and over 90 sites of importance. In 2015, UNESCO gave MACGeopark it’s highest designation, recognising the world heritage importance of the region.

Here we are in a global pandemic in a time when geoheritage is of massive importance to the global future. In this Great Pause, which is tentatively hovering over the ‘on’ switch, MACGeopark has launched this digital Geopark Poetry Map to engage with the wider public, those both at home and abroad, adults and school age children. Over this fortnight until this Spring Bank Holiday Weekend (in Northern Ireland), I am publishing ‘sparks’ to help you engage with a site’s geoheritage and cultural significance to inform your poetry making.

Nature poetry has a long and strong tradition. The pastoral has given way to environmental and climate change poetry. But at the basis of all is the earth and how it shapes us. How we live, earn our bread, grow our food, our language and customs are all bound up with the shape of the land.

So, to today’s site! Tullydermot Falls, close to Swanlinbar in County Cavan.

In flowing to the sea, rivers try to deepen their valleys to the same level as the sea. Old and
mature rivers tend to have broad flat river beds whilst younger rivers are characterised by
water falls and rapids. This is especially the case in the upper reaches of rivers such as at
Tullydermot Falls. Tullydermot Falls occur in the upper reaches of the Claddagh River, a
tributary of the Erne River, which flows eastwards from its source in the Cuilcagh Mountains towards Swanlinbar. The falls are caused by the action of the water on the underlyingbedrock which consists of alternating layers of hard sandstones and softer shales. The fast flowing river erodes the soft rock leading to the undercutting of the overlying hard rock. The derelict cottages and farmhouses that are dotted across the landscape in this part of County Cavan are a stark reminder of the thriving farming communities that would have once been found throughout the Irish countryside. Many other landscape features also remind of this bygone era. Remnants of ‘lazy beds’, a method of forming ridges of earth to provide for crops can be seen in the fields nearby. Carefully packaged stacks of traditionally hand-cut turf dot the fields on either side of the Claddagh River, a technique that is still employed throughout Ireland to this day

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnership & Engagement

If you are wondering what hand cut turf looks like (and you can see it in peat bog close to Tullydermot Falls), this is what it looks when it it is harvested each summer.

Here is some video footage to give you a taste of the ‘water and the wild.’

I hope that some of these poetry prompts over this fortnight will spark poems that appreciate the layers and nuances of our geoheritage here in MACGeopark. You can get guidelines from GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com. The closing date for submissions is 15th June 2021.

Geopark Poetry Map Prompts 8

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Greetings Earth lovers and Poetry writers this watery Sunday. We are on a land of lakes theme this weekend (and I do not mean to plug a certain USA brand of butter from Wisconsin. Wisconsin may have more lakes, but it is also twice the size of the island of Ireland.) Both Fermanagh and Cavan, however, claim to have one lake for everyday of the year. Which is why Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark can claim to be the Lake District of Ireland. With so many to choose from surely you can put today’s lough on #MACGeopark digital Poetry Map.

Today’s lough is one that is close to my own home. Lough MacNean straddles the international boundary between Northern Ireland’s County Fermanagh and County Cavan in the Republic. There is an Upper Lough MacNean and a Lower Lough MacNean. Lower Lough MacNean is completely within the Fermanagh boundary. There is a little strip of river and wetland between the two with a bridge that links the villages of Belcoo in Fermanagh and Blacklion in Cavan.

The freshwater would have provided abundant fish and the system of loughs and rivers would have been a good way to navigate to better hunting grounds. Cushrush Island in Lower Lough MacNean shows evidence of habitation from the Mesolithic Age, when people first migrated to the island of Ireland. The many small islands would have made convenient stop offs. There are also remnants of crannogs in Lough MacNean, those man made islands (!) that modern eyes see as easily defended from marauders. But that is pure speculation. Some early ancestor decided to experiment with engineering. But, given the many megaliths surrounding the Lough MacNean area, it seems that the early dwellers were keen engineers, which is not pure speculation. We can still see the evidence of their labour and ingenuity.

This is the geological background to how this landscape was formed.

The single biggest impact on the landscape of the Geopark comes from the last glaciation.
As huge ice sheets slowly crept across the entire area, acting like giant sheets of sandpaper
and removing everything from their path. Some of the ice moved westwards forming the
glacial valley of Lower Lough Erne and Lough Macnean. Indeed many of the islands located
within Lough Macnean are in fact drumlins. These form from till or boulder clay that was
sculpted into this shape as massive ice sheets slowly crept across the landscape during the
last glaciation. Glacial moraines are another relict of our icy past and this is a general name
given to material left behind as the ice retreated at the end of the last glaciation. They tend to be primarily composed of sands and gravels and the land bridge that connects Upper and
Lower Lough Macnean is an excellent example of a glacial moraine.

Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer, Partnerships & Engagement

  • Crannog Lough MacNean

Moraines and drumlins walk hand in hand across the landscape. The island of Ireland has the largest moraine field on the planet and the Irish language gave geologists the word drumlin. It comes from the Irish droimnín, translating as little ridge. These whale-backed hills (metaphorically) swim in pods across the breadth of this island from County Down to Donegal.. You can find moraines and drumlins in many counties in Ireland. The moraines may not be seen, but the drumlins certainly can be seen and are the visual clue to what has gone on over the eons under your feet.

I hope thaat you have been finding some inspiration to submit poems to the Geopark Poetry Map. All sites are open to the public. But if you have to be an online visitor because of these pandemic times, you are also welcome to visit with your imagination and submit a poem, too. You can get full guidelines by emailing GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com. The closing date is 15th June 2021.

Geopark Poetry Map Prompts 4

~ sojourningsmith ~ 1 Comment

Good morning Earth lovers and Poetry writers! To get your geoheritage themed poetry juices flowing Day 4’s poetry prompt has us visiting the Cavan Burren Park again.

New to this concept of a Geopark Poetry Map? Well, it is born out of the pandemic as a physically distanced way to connect us. The map will be digital and will include commissioned poems from Dara McAnulty, author of Diary of a Young Naturalist, Geopark born poets Maria McManus and Seamas Mac Annaidh, Cavan poet Noel Monaghan, and A. J. Quinn, better known for his crime writing.

The daily poetry prompts are part of the Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark’s open call for poems inspired by specific Geopark sites written by new and emerging poets. I will also be doing outreach with schools along the Cavan and Fermanagh borders to involve primary and national school age children in the project, although we are still trying to figure out the safest way of interacting with classes in two jurisdictions.

While yesterday looked at how the land’s geology launched an internationally famous china brand, today’s prompt looks at a cottage industry. You see dotted across the limestone landscape around the Cavan Burren remnants of Lime Kilns. There is the remains of one in Cavan Burren Park known as McCaffrey’s Lime Kiln. My friend Morag took some snaps when we visited the Cavan Burren last week. (And it was a celebratory cross border visit since it was the first time since Christmas she could cross over from Fermanagh into Cavan given the Covid travel restrictions. It was a happy reunion in the open air.)

Here is what Martina O’Neill, MACGeopark Development Officer for Partnership and Engagement writes about this site.

This lime kiln located in the Burren would have been for use by the adjacent farmhouse.
The farmhouse would have been abandoned 50 years ago but the lime kiln may not have
been used in the last 100 years. The material produced from working these kilns, quicklime,
had many uses including as a fertiliser, pesticide, mortar and for bleaching linen. In this
particular limekiln, limestone rock was broken into small, fist sized lumps. It was set-up with layers of wood, turf and limestone. When lit, turf and limestone were added in equal
quantities and it would be kept burning overnight. The burnt lime, quicklime was recovered
though a small opening at the bottom, accessed through an inverted stairway structure.
Quicklime is chemically unstable so whenever water is added to it a chemical reaction
occurs and great temperatures are produced hence the inverted stairway structure and use
of a long poled shovel in this case to remove the quicklime.

Martina O’Neill, Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark Development Officer, Partnerships & Engagement

Ireland is often associated with pretty white cottages with thatched roofs. Before there was commercial paint there was limewash. And, you guessed it, it was made from limestone and lime kilns were involved in the manufacture of the components.

Do you think you have a poem about a lime kiln to offer to the Geopark Poetry Map? The closing date is 15th June 2021. If you live in Ireland you can see the lime kiln in Cavan Burren Park. All the Geopark’s sites are open to the public. And it’s FREE to visit!

If you live beyond our island’s borders I hope that some research and imagination may help spark a poem. You are also eligible to submit a poem. For full details email GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com.

Still a bit unsure about what geoheritage is exactly? Maybe my previous article will help https://sojourningsmith.blog/2021/05/11/what-is-geoheritage/

Happy UNESCO World Poetry Day

Cuilcagh Mountain
~ sojourningsmith ~ 6 Comments

Each year March 21st rolls around. Some years, like 2021, it is also the spring equinox (or equilux as I like to think of it as we bask in lengthening daylight). But it is always UNESCO World Poetry Day. And, if you are not already familiar with it, UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. After UNICEF, it is probably the most high profile of the United Nation’s work, other than sending in military peace keeping missions in hotspots around the globe. UNESCO World Poetry Day is also a landmark in my own life as I launch an exciting poetry project that I am curating. But first, let’s have a little digression as I unpack the acronym and it’s context.

UNESCO covers, broadly, what is our world heritage. That is why Skellig Michael, Newgrange and the Giant’s Causeway and Coast have earned the UNESCO World Heritage site moniker. The science bit covers the land we live on – the rocks, the waterways, the weather that sculpts the land over time – in an ice age or in a weekend when a fierce storm blows through. The land pretty much dictates our culture as we adapt to our habitat and create art and customs informed by our geographical location. Education is how we transmit both heritage, scientific knowledge and culture.

The Shannon Pot where the Shannon Rivers emerges from underground is a Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark site

The United Nations was always in my consciousness from an early age. When we lived in Queens, there was a United Nations Village beside my sister’s and eldest brother’s primary School, St. Nicholas of Tollentine. So they had classmates of children whose parents were working at the UN. The actual building where those parents worked was across the East River and opened in 1952. I went on a tour of the building in 1963 when it still was spanking new and very modern. What lives in my memory is a mural that was very abstract. I asked the tour guide what did it mean. I earned indulgent chuckles from the audience. Little children often ask the questions that the adults think, but also reckon will make them look unsophisticated.

Which brings me to another UNESCO designation that is close to my heart and where I make my home. I live within the demesne of the Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark. It is a global geopark because it straddles an international boundary; Fermanagh is in the UK’s Northern Ireland and Cavan is in the Republic of Ireland. It was the first cross-border global geopark on the planet. That it was created in the wake of the Good Friday Belfast Treaty in 1998 is a cultural monument to co-operation after over thirty years of civil strife. The geology of this area has huge international significance and the artefacts from the previous millenia tell the story of how our human inhabitants developed their culture.

A glacial erratic in Cavan Burren Park called Fionn’s Fist is an example where geology meets mythological tale

What better way to transmit that heritage then with poetry? The first dwellers probably sang songs of successful hunts, lamented loved ones who passed, celebrated births and the seasons’ passing. Those first stories will have changed over time as each age changed the tune and timing, but the great themes are eternal and connect those of us living today with our mitochondrial mothers. Science helps us excavate new facts and amazing discoveries where we can alter our view about how this living organism -Earth – lives, breaths and shape shifts. Poetry transmits how we interlink with other living organisms. The work of poetry is to make connections.

SHakeholeCladdaghGlen
Shakehole Claddagh Glen

Which brings me to the perfect marriage of my biophilia and poetry. Today, we launch a digital project with Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark where we will be mapping the geopark poem by poem. Five established poets have been commissioned to create new work on the geoheritage of sites across the geopark. I will be curating the project and reaching out to new and emerging poets asking them for their own contributions. Twelve of those poets will also feature on the Geopark’s digital poetry map. As schools reopen I will be doing outreach with the 9-12 year olds who have visited geopark sites where they live for contributions.

The project has been funded by the Geological Survey of Ireland’s Geoheritage Fund. Cavan Arts Office is funding my work as curator of the project through an Artist Development Award. We are also grateful for Cavan’s Ramor Theatre contributing professional actors to recite the work and to record sound files.

Ultimately, the Geopark Poetry Map will be on the Marble Arch Cave UNESCO Global Geopark website. later in 2021. You will be able to click onto the digital map and read the poem off the screen and click on the sound file and hear it in your ear. Poetry is both a visual and aural experience. The Geopark Poetry Map is a vehicle for doing outreach from a safe distance in these pandemic times.

I live in what feels like a miraculous landscape. My hope is that the poems will educate, entertain and inspire the public to cherish this precious place where I have been graced to live these past twenty years.

If you would like to know more about the Geopark Poetry Map, how to submit a poem for consideration, or to just get more background information about some of the seventy sites around Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark, please email

GeoparkPoetryMap@gmail.com

I look forward to reading the poems that will celebrate the great geoheritage of this landscape.

Since this is a poetry blog I better finish with a poem. The poem is dedicated to Dr. Kirsten Lemon, who was the geologist who taught me and the other Cavan Geopark Ambassadors about the wonders of the earth beneath our feet back in 2011.

Iapetus
For Dr. Kirsten Lemon

The primordial soup
boiled over,
a neonising tsunami
overflowing,
making a subtropical hollow
ocean
over iron stained desert floor

Ebb and flow , 
sun up and down,
landmass creaks and groans.
Still - the magma goes.

The Cailleach never shrugged.
Not at all!
Nor she shirked. 
She bore the granite load,
lugging it, going heave-ho!
Playing pat-a-cake,
She mixed mud and stone,
taking the two and making one –

an island of halves,
bi-valved, being both, 
doing the double,
tied with her apron’s strings.

Running her giant’s thumb
down the seam
the Cailleach made her mark
with a spit and a lick.
She sealed its secret,
calling it a promise.

Copyright © Bee Smith, 2020. By permission of the author.
boaislandjanus

Spring Flow

~ sojourningsmith ~ 1 Comment

Irrefutably, it is springtime. At least in our far corner of West Cavan Spring has arrived. The narcissi Tete a tete have flowered, not just in the pots, but out in sheltered parts of the garden. The first croci and hydrangea are starting to bloom. Of the wild flowers, the bold aconite has been out for a couple of weeks, outfacing the snow and frost at Brigid’s Day. The hellebores are in flower. The first of the primroses are flowering, too, again in a sheltered corner of the garden.

Yesterday was the first of what my husband terms ‘laundry days!’ Mostly sunny, mild,and with a breeze that promises it will dry your washing if you hang it on the line outdoors. Given the humidity in Ireland, outdoor drying is something of an art and whim of nature. Yesterday was the first time in many months that I chanced pegging out washing on the line.

We have now had the official opening of spring in my part of Ireland. Which happens to be a stunningly beautiful area. So much so that UNESCO recognises its significant natural and built heritage by naming it as a geopark. I live in a geopark community on the first village on the River Shannon after it pokes its head out from underground caverns and begins to flow towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Poetry practice may have an element of spring fever to it today. But indulge me a little as I have been up since dawn’s earliest suggestion of light. The dawn over the Playbank was a full on kiss this morning.

Arteries

Peachy rose gold threads
brocading the light
coming up over the Playbank.

The throated notes of waking up song
Is it a robin?
I do not know for sure.

The trickle of the flow-
ditch, spring, stream to out from, feed in
the River Shannon down below.

A clear light. A song's note.
Springtime.
A rise in bloodheat.

The snow on the Playbank 
melted ages ago,
a cataract tear

flowing down the drumlins
sculpting  the karst below over ages
with the seasons' flow.