Poems of a life’s journey

AN Ennis-based nun has released her first poetry book, with poems of her life journey from her childhood in County Wexford to her life in Clare.
Sr Carmel Kehoe, originally from Lacken, near New Ross, has been living in Water Park View, Ennis, for 16 years and believes that she is the only St John of God nun west of the River Shannon.
Sr Carmel is a resource teacher in Dangan National School in East Clare.
While her book, which was launched this week, Angels of God Come to Meet Her, is her first poetry book, it is actually her second book. Her book of short stories, which she brought out a number of years ago, was titled Canticles of Word and Colour.
The illustrations are by Franciscan friar  Br Ambrose O’Mahony.
Sr Carmel explained that the latest book was a work in progress for a number of years. “It is very much a social history about life in Ireland in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
“The poems capture a lot of my own experiences of childhood and life in rural Ireland. We had very little money growing up but we had a great abundance of love and care for one another. Our lives were simple and quite unsophisticated but yet rich in many ways. I always loved animals and as a child before I went off to school every morning, I’d spend ages saying goodbye to the animals. I was big into horses growing up and rode in shows and hunts. I still love horses and one of my favourite places to go is the horse fair in Spancilhill. I bring the school children there with me now,” she said.
Sr Carmel came through a serious road accident in 1999, which saw her hospitalised for five months with breakages from head to toe.
“Thank God, I made a full recovery. But that time did give me a lot of time to think. I always had in my head to write and I nearly got around to it when I was recovering but I’m terribly undisciplined. I’ve been dabbling in writing for years. I always had the dream. While I was doing a course in Waterford, Fr Tom Hogan was my spiritual accompanier and he very much egged me on to write a book. Even before I’d written my first book, I always felt in my own head that I’d write three. So this is my second. Maybe I’ll write my autobiography yet,” she added
Her book was launched on Sunday night by Fr Brendan Quinlivan and she will also launch it in New Ross on Saturday night.