Snippets – JJ Grafton

Burning bridges

I like poetry but, if I’m honest, I only have a passing interest in it. Every now and then, though, a piece of work will take my interest and I acquire a new favourite author. One such is Rudy Francisco, a spoken word poet and writer from San Diego. Of all his work, this isContinue reading “Burning bridges”

A very evocative photograph

This photograph, by the hugely talented David Baker, took me back to a day, many years ago, when I stood on the beach at Inch, near Dublin. The landscape was composed entirely of sand, sea and sky. The only things disturbing the serenity of the scene were me with my camera and some jackeen who’dContinue reading “A very evocative photograph”

Tom Lundy, the ‘Cut’ and toffee apples

A lot of the background material in Ashes in the Tongue comes from my childhood in Banbridge in County Down. One of my early memories, which didn’t make it into the book, is of being wrapped up warmly on a winter’s night to witness the burning of Tom Lundy (Robert Lundy, died 1717). In 1950s NorthernContinue reading “Tom Lundy, the ‘Cut’ and toffee apples”