Kevin McManus is a poet and writer from County Leitrim in Ireland. In 2021, he published a poetry collection entitled “The Hawthorn Tree” with Lapwing Publishers, Belfast. He has also had poems published in several international journals, including the London Grip, the Californian Catamaran, the Honest Ulsterman, the Fortnightly Review, the Galway Review, the Cormorant, Dreich, Impsired, the Lothlorien and An Aitiuil.
In 2022 his poem “Lost Souls” was adapted into a short film and won the Blissfest film festival in Chicago. The film was also a finalist in the Cork poetry film festival and the Drumshanbo written word festival. It was also selected for the Los Angeles poetry film festival. Kevin has also published eight fiction novels, including his latest, Darkness at the edge of town, published by Book Hub. A new poetry collection entitled, A Cold Wind from the lake is currently in production.

A raw wind prowls the bog

Beneath the brooding sky, where embers of sun fade,
a wild wind prowls the bog, untamed and cold,
its icy fingers, scrape across the lonely moor,
a dance with the reeds, a whisper to the soul,
the bog, a quilt of moss, a mosaic of heather,
crunching beneath the weight of the wandering squalls,
each step upon the frozen earth echoes,
as daylight bows to the indigo embrace,
the cold raw wind weaves through the sedge’s dance,
an ethereal symphony, a howl in the night,
the bog breathes, alive in the cold expanse.