Shane Blackman is an Irish-American writer. He received a B.A. in Literature and History from Wabash College, where he was awarded the Walter Fertig Prize for Excellence in Writing. After earning an M.A. in History from Indiana University, he served as Lecturer in World History at Indiana. Shane has been a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University and a Visiting Fellow at Princeton, Yale, and the Marine Corps University. At Oxford, Shane was trained by the Irish poet and Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney. Shane’s poems have appeared in The Galway Review, The Mythic Circle, and the Latin American Literary Review.
Irish Treasures
The Met in New York traced Irish antiques
Back fifteen hundred years before the time
Of Christ: the ancients found God in nature.
The museum and royal academy in Dublin
Created an exhibit of art and literature.
I visited Trinity College and
Marveled at a ninth-century copy
Of Saint Matthew’s take on the Good Shepherd,
Who blessed the peacemakers and the humble.
Central France and ninth-century Ireland connect
In the “Book of Armagh”, which contains a life
Of Christ and a biography of Saint
Martin, who gave food and clothes to the poor.
As I walked on a path in St. Stephen’s Green,
I prayed, “May the Irish treasures live forever.”
Dinner with Gene Hackman
Downtown, at the corner of two main streets,
I watched a busker play a guitar and
Blues harp, like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen
Picked their chords and used their harmonicas.
The man’s sign said he’d been in Vietnam
With the United States Marine Corps, that
He was homeless, sad, hungry, and war-torn.
I gave him Franklins and found him a home.
“You are mighty kind,” the musician said.
“One day, we’re going to have dinner with
Gene Hackman in Santa Fe, and we’ll sing
These loyal words: Semper Fi until I die.”
It was cathartic for the gent to dream
Big, live large, and heal from the war trauma.
Cynouai’s Art
Summertime holidays took her to Cork,
Boston, Galway, New York, and Donegal.
The virtuoso’s parents were divine,
A screenwriter and a movie director.
Her Ph.D. years and studies in Saint Paul,
Minnesota were full of deep insight,
Innocence, joy, knowledge, and philanthropy.
Theatre, music, and art were her crafts.
Good friends likened her to Parker Posey,
The movie star who acts, without acting,
A rare seamlessness between film & real life.
Cynouai personified and lived compassion:
Agape charity is noble and authentic.
Everyone knows it when they see it.
Morillo & Kristofferson
In Louisiana, I found guitar chords that
Bring two Southern Rhodes Scholars side by side.
There, they started writing songs and making
Art that lasts for generations and more.
Kris wrote that on Sundays he felt the blues.
Johnny Cash agreed to sing that bold tune.
Listen to Stephen’s palindrome lyric, and
You’ll find Morillo in Andretti’s racecar.
They wear sunglasses, like Jack Nicholson.
They are bards, like Simon & Garfunkel,
Who published poetry on album covers.
Listen to the voices of the past and
Present, for they are guides to the future.
In them, we have great wisdom and cool shades.
An Original from South Central
The L.A. guy beats to his own drum and rhythm,
His own New Orleans jazz and saxophone.
He remixed the City of Angels, and
Portrayed war history in “Fury” and “U-571”.
What the modern world should know is that he’s
A self-taught man: film schools ask him to share
His expertise and experience with students.
Denzel praises the script for “Training Day”.
Margot Robbie says he is the best film-maker.
Brad Pitt thanks him for the Collier character.
The genius of David Ayer is his
Boundless curiosity and humble verve.
No doubt Hollywood is a meritocracy:
The Navy veteran is invaluable to be sure.
The Galway Review 