Leda, Queen of Sparta.
I couldn’t get your name out of my mind.
My life blown away by
winds from the east.
Then I looked and saw
the shattered feathers on my pillow,
the shafts, veins and barbs of a swan.
The moon stares in the window
with skull-white eyes.
I hold my hands over my head,
as if comforting a child
or covering its ears.
Jackie Gorman is from Athlone. Her poetry has been published in a number of publications including The Honest Ulsterman, Poetry Ireland Review, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, The Lonely Crowd and Obsessed With Pipework. Her work has been commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards. In 2017, she won the Listowel Writers Week Single Poem Award for the poem "The Blue Hare". Her work was included in the 25th Anniversary Edition of the Windows Anthology. She has recently completed an MA in Poetry Studies at the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies at Dublin City University and was part of the Poetry Ireland 2017 Introductions Series.
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