One week...

...and I will be heading to Eire. It feels like I am going home. Most people think I'm Irish because of my last name, but I'm not.

This is a picture of my Ohio friend Jacquie and me at McDermott's about four years ago. Now Jacquie lives in a cottage behind McDermott's. I can't wait to sit at this very picnic table and write. There is live ceili music every night at McDermott's and the craic is always good.

It's been a rough weekend for my family, but things seem to be improving and I am humbled by the miracles I've witnessed.

On the poetry tip, I had the poem Sitting at Le Cafe la Nuit picked up last week by American Poetry Journal. I couldn't be happier with my recent acceptances, but I also look forward to lounging around the fields of County Clare and writing some new stuff.

I'm looking for some good novels to read on my trip. I have a couple lined up, but I am open to suggestions. If you had all day to read and write (and pub crawl), what would you be reading?

Summer in Doolin

Four years ago my friend Jacquie went to Ireland with me for spring break. When we returned we were sick. All we wanted was to go back again. So we did. No one believed two born and bred Akron kids would buy a backpack and a plane ticket and leave. People thought we were joking. It wasn't until the day that we left that Jacquie's parents knew it was real. It ended up being the best time of our lives.

Jacquie never had the money to return after that summer. I returned a few times without her. I made new memories with another favorite friend of mine. But I ached for Jacquie, for our Irish summer.

Last May Jacquie took her tax money and moved to the very Irish village we fell in love with four years ago this March. She is madly in love with a chef at one of the three pubs in the village.

And so this summer I will return to Ireland. First I will travel with my friend Kelli, then I will stay with Jacquie in Doolin. I don't know how long I will stay. That depends on my mother's willingness to watch Telemachus.

If you're reading this Jacquie, I can't wait to see you. I can't wait to go to McDermott's and listen to The Ceili Bandits. And most of all, I can't wait to play Lord of the Rings while we walk the cliffs. I still get to be Aragorn. Are you still my Gimli?