Writing is second only to my breath.
I think better with a pen in my hand. I am driven to use words before all else to connect with both worlds, inner and outer realms. I accept those are extreme terms. And I acknowledge that the real “work” is just being present.
I have written poetry since I can remember, beginning with ordinary life in rhymes solely derived from the structure of Irish songs I embarked on a career backstage in British theatre because I wanted to write about it. And I became a secondary school teacher so that I could share my love of writing and reading. My first collection of poetry was bound simply for family members and titled, Watching the Egg Dance in the Pan. Some of my poems have been published in magazines. Two of my poems can be found in the Methuen Book of Theatre Verse. And I have given several readings over the years. I self-published a chapbook of poems in 2016, Hair of the Barista, which is happily being sold at my local coffee shop. I published a collection of Hawaii-centered poetry in 2020, One Good Ear. My next poetry chapbook is titled, Malaga Malaga, focusing on two weeks I spent in Spain.
Both books are available to purchase on Amazon as well as locally in Hawi and Waimea on Big Island, Hawaii which you can learn more about below.
Hair of the Barista
2016
Small town coffee shops and long walks in rural Hawaii. Hair of the Barista acknowledges the person behind the counter and finds meaning in everyday life. The author sets out to bridge the seen and the unseen around the old sugar plantation towns he calls home, where the questions and conflicts of self, other, and the world of headlines demand attention in the midst of beauty. This book sings in conversational tones to the power of the ordinary.
Hair of the Barista is available to purchase at Kohala Coffee Mill and Elements in Hawi as well as Waimea Coffee Company and the Waimea General Store in Waimea. Hair of the Barista is also available to purchase on Amazon.
One Good Ear: Poems, Prose Poems, and Prose
2020
One Good Ear is about the poet Michael Foley listening to his life on the Island of Hawaiʻi, his home for the past twenty years. This collection of poetry and prose marks the deepening of his relationship with the land and the people. Playful and contemplative, the subject is “being present.” His writing also sees and touches. He likens his wife’s dance on the local airport runway to “that contrary motion of the bee...” He finds an impenetrable macnut shell hollowed out like a small flute, “by the unseen force or creature.” He studies a porcelain shard that evokes a legendary beachcomber and plantation days, “…a cross-hatching all that remains of the blue house…” The heart of the book relates how he followed his wife’s long held passion for hula by joining a group of kupuna, or elders. He records this transformative moment, when he began to learn the meaning of the phrase, “hula is life.” When unexpected tragedy happens, he learns that hula has prepared him; and Hawaiʻi itself fills his heart, mind and soul with unconditional love. They say grief comes in waves. The title poem is a turning point where the narrator swims with his one good ear under the surface, listening. Aloha and mahalo mean love and gratitude in Hawaiian…these are the sentiments the poet wishes to extend to HawaiʻI and its people in his book, ONE GOOD EAR.
One Good Ear is available to purchase at Kohala Coffee Mill and Elements in Hawi as well as Waimea Coffee Company and the Waimea General Store in Waimea. One Good Ear is also available to purchase on Amazon.
