Oh speckled firelighter, square igniter,
I torch your corners in the cottage grate.
Don’t let me down: make this fireplace brighter,
the air is chilly and it’s getting late.
Oh skinny kindling, please now do your part:
go take these little flames and multiply
them: crackle, snap and spit your tiny sparks -
your form is smooth and even, wooden, dry.
Oh darkest flat briquettes of shredded peat,
it’s well I know that you are slow to catch;
but, then again, you give out lasting heat
when both the other two still need a match.
Oh chimney for my smoke, stay draughty, clear;
Oh winter, be not harsh again this year.
Dubliner Maeve O'Sullivan’s poetry and haikai have been widely published, anthologized, awarded and translated. She has five collections with Alba Publishing, the most recent being Wasp on the Prayer Flag (2021). Maeve is a member of the Irish Writers’ Centre and has recently received an Arts Council Agility Award.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/writefromwithin
Facebook: www.facebook.com/maeveosullivanpoetry
More work by Maeve O'Sullivan
Tel: 028 7126 6946
Email: hueditor@theverbal.co
Verbal, Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street Within, Derry/Londonderry, BT48 6PU
companyCopyright © 2026 Honest Ulsterman