Jimi McKillop is a poet originally from Northern Ireland who now resides in County Louth.

He has a forthcoming collection of one hundred poems ready for print, drawing inspiration from the landscapes and histories of both regions.

His verses explore memory, identity, and the subtle rhythms of everyday life, blending lyrical observation with a keen ear for the cadences of speech.

Rooted in Irish tradition, McKillop’s work offers readers a reflective voice that captures both personal and communal experiences.

No sense of humour

You’ll need to arouse
a sense of humour
if you don’t want that
tumour to grow,
you’ll need to lighten up
if you don’t want to scupper
your own plans,
you’ll need to develop
a thicker skin
before the hilarity kicks in,
and you’ll need to learn to laugh
at the daftness of it all.

When wrong is right

What if wrong
was actually right
and you understood
that day and night
are not separate,
and what if you didn’t
need to fight
to truly see the light?
What if what felt
like a rejection,
was just
misconceived affection,
and what if life
steered you intentionally
into trouble
just to burst
your bemused bubble
and alter
the path you’re on
in order for you to grow?

Ireland lament

Where is the emerald Isle?
now rectangular,
angular concrete
jack hammer in the brain,
cranes sucking the light
from the sky overhead
a hot bed for development,
shameless greed
on a grand scale,
so, the land of saints and scholars
is all about the dollar now?
gone are the beautiful pastures
once conversant with this land
that many hands have toiled upon,
the soil now unrecognisable.

Persistence

If you can be nothing
but persistent in this life
then that is all you’ll need,
from the embryo of a thought
to the most magnificent deed,
do not be discouraged
by another’s tongue of doubt
despondency is nothing
but the shadow of a shout
that comes from a place
not worthy of your cogitation,
let it linger alone
in negative agitation,
while you soar to heights
of infinite admiration.