Kate Ennals
Poet/Writer
Kate Ennals
Kate Ennals is a prize-winning (Westport Arts Festival) poet and writer and has published poems and short stories in a range of literary and on-line journals (Crannog, Skylight 47, Honest Ulsterman, The Moth, Anomaly, Bangor Literary Journal, Boyne Berries, North West Words, The Blue Nib, A New Ulster, The Ogham Stone, plus).
Her first collection of poetry At The Edge was published in 2015 by Lapwing Publications.
Her second collection, Threads, was published in April 2018. Her third collection is due to be published by Salmon Press in 2022/23.
She has lived in Ireland for 25 years and runs poetry and writing workshops in County Cavan. Kate also runs At The Edge, Cavan, a literary reading evening, funded by the Cavan Arts Office. She runs poetry and creative writing courses throughout the year.
MUSHROOMS
The oak tree stretches up into a sparkling crown
of green twigs and leaves, a fractured maze of beech and ash,
a scurry of leaping squirrels. Green ivy and lichen
floor the forest as I scrabble, bent through the crumble
of leaf and soil. A wriggle of skin wings crawl
from the myriad of rhizomes and roots.
My fingers penetrate earth. I scrabble deep
beyond the mycelial barrier,
to the intergalactic ecosystem below
and above that blows my mind.
POEM, I WANT FROM YOU
High voltage
I want my hand to hover over your lines
Feel the heat, fan flames
Open windows
I want you to burn alive, squirm
I want you in the spin of a sycamore seed
To speak the texture of cat tongues
Paint in relief
Do forbidden things like
Drizzle me with frog spawn, time and rosemary
Spit emblematic turns at me