VERITY
the madrigal, volume iv
Bringing My Partner Home
by jean tuomey
Together they gather leaves.
He, crouched, stretched, scoops armfuls
of damp and russet, stuffs them generously
into black bags my mother holds open,
wheels them to a shed for storage.
I watch as I prepare dinner,
unaware that they are breaking bread.
Jean Tuomey lives in Castlebar. Co Mayo. She is published in A New Ulster 86, Crannog, Crossways,
Fish Anthology, Galway Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Poets meet Politics 2019, The Cormorant 2,
The Stony Thursday Book, Washing Windows? Irish Women Write Poetry, Empty House, Poetry and
Prose on the Climate Crisis 2021, ed by Alice Kinsella, and Nessa O ‘Mahony. Her chapbook, Swept
Back, was commended in Fools for Poetry 2018 and Blue Nib chapbook 37, 2019. 2nd in Fish poetry competition 2011, short listed in Fish 2013, 2014, Over the Edge 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017, Poem for Patience 2018, Jonathan Swift Creative Awards 2018. 2019, Anthony Cronin poetry award, 2021. Second Light 2021. She came first in the Jonathan Swift Creative awards 2021 and was awarded mentorship in her novel with Elizabeth Reapy by Mayo Co Council Arts Office. 2021.
A former teacher, she trained as a writing facilitator with the National Association for Poetry
Therapy in the US.