Poetry and Miscellaneous Yap: The Blog of Michael O'Dea

Poetry and Miscellaneous Yap is a fitting title for the blog kept by Irish poet Micheal O'Dea. Recently, he moved from Dublin back to the country-side. He had up till then helped organise the annual Rathmines Festival that features poetry, theatre, music- a little bit of everything. But O'Dea needed a change, and so he made one.

It was about then that he started keeping Poetry and Miscellaneous Yap over at blogspot.com. The articles tend to be short even for blogs, but they vary widely. Sometimes, O'Dea posts videos, photos, and paintings that inspire him. He also takes his reader on vivid word tours through specific locations of the Emerald Isle that are havens- or at the very least interesting- to him. Often he posts his own work, usually older work from his personal work journals or reprints from past books, although he does occasionally treat his readers to poems-in-progress. Sometimes, he takes a moment to bow respectfully to those poets he enjoys. Not left out, of course, are the scattered rants about the state of poetry in Ireland today, or some other hot topic.

To the right side of the page are various useful bits like "This Day In History", a selection of quotes which have meaning to O'Dea, and a few well-chosen links to other poetry-related sites.

Poetry and Miscellaneous Yap may be just what you need to add a little seasoning to your celebration of National Poetry Month (April) this year. It provides a small window on contemporary poetry across the Water and a whole new taste to savor on your plate.