Margaret Kiernan writes poetry and prose. She is widely published in literary journals and magazines, also online. She was nominated for The Best of The Net Award, multiple times. She was runner-up in The Hannah Greely International Poetry competition, received professional bursaries from The Arts Council of Ireland, from Mayo County Arts Office, and from Westmeath County Council. Margaret has authored an eBook, titled, The Bay of Nectar, a fiction book about two boys.
Margaret is listed as a professional writer at The Irish Writers Centre, Dublin.
Her background is in advocacy for Inclusion and Diversity, she is a democracy activist.
Her main pastime is painting, both landscapes and still-life, in watercolour and in acrylics. If she is not writing, she is painting.
Walking and being in nature with her beloved dog, Molly is her daily reprieve, and music.

You’re a girl…

…you’d better not forget,
a voice in your head
echoes it.

In ancient days
when bogs with trees were chapels to
manifest, women knew about cures,
before religions came with high alters.

Mullahs rant, they offer to read their book
for a price,
know your place and pay enough.
Heron standing in a bog-hole
don’t look up.

New birthed woman, till you’ve been churched
don’t go inside
for fear you’d taint the holy place, or
kiss a chalice
with those ruby red lips of cardinal red.

Those corpus days of street processions
when breaking rank was not advised,
those veiled ladies, dressed in blue cotton sashes,
ordered girls quickly left, quickly right, quickly get in line.
If only there had been a woman from the bog
with roots from the ground, lashed together.