I wrote a poem inspired by a painting

11.08.2025

So, when I first sat down to write Summer Freedom for Poets Meet Painters 2025, I honestly had zero expectations. I just thought, hey, this’ll be fun — writing a poem in response to a painting . I definitely didn’t think it would end up as one of the 20 poems picked for this year’s anthology.

The competition’s been running since 2010 thanks to Mill Cove Gallery in Kenmare in Ireland — basically, poets write pieces inspired by artworks from the Kenmare Summer Arts Festival. Rules are simple: original, unpublished, in English, max 30 lines.

I gave it a go, and submitted two poems—one was selected.

The launch of the anthology was at the Carnegie Arts Centre in Kenmare and, from everything I’ve heard, it was the kind of warm, friendly night every poet or artist dreams of. I couldn’t be there in person, but my friend Sean stepped in and read my poem for me — and totally nailed it.

The organiser, John Goode, really captured the mood of the night in his write-up:

“A warm, generous audience filled the room, and the 20 poems from this year’s anthology were brought to life in heartfelt readings that touched and delighted everyone present. The diversity of voices and styles made the night exciting, moving, and thoroughly entertaining.”

Here’s my poem as it appears in the anthology:

Samhradh means summer in Irish — and that’s the title of the painting by Rosemary Purcell which inspired my poem. It instantly took me back to a field on my Granny’s farm. Right in the middle there was a dip full of yellow flag irises — Granny always called them “flaggers.” She wanted to get rid of them, a sign of bad, boggy land, but I thought they were gorgeous.

That whole memory is tied up with the summers my sister and I spent in Ireland. We’d leave Manchester behind and suddenly we were in this world of endless days, no rules, just freedom to run wild, play, and soak up the countryside where Dad and his sisters grew up. It always felt like home. That’s what the poem is about — that feeling of freedom, family, and joy that, if you’re lucky, stays with you forever.

Even though I was back in the Netherlands while all this was happening, I still felt part of the magic through the photos and messages friends sent. I’m honestly just grateful my poem got to be part of such a beautiful evening.