Three Joycean Haiku by John Maxwell O'Brien

Three Joycean Haiku

        Irish

Indelibly green

Wandering stars…but…never

Quite…able…to…wean

One of a kind by LAUTIR 

            The Past

History…Joyce…spake

A nightmare…from…which…I’m

Struggling…to awake

                                                                                              

Nickie Hayden’s “Sylvia” via Olivier Cornet Gallery Dublin

Anna Livia Plurabelle

Riverrun through Eve

Over a dam…under…me

Circle…and…bereave

 

Drawing of James Joyce by Jim Ward

John Maxwell O’Brien is an emeritus professor of history (Queens College, CUNY) who has written scores of articles on the ancient and medieval worlds and the history of alcoholism. His best-selling biography, Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy (Routledge), has been translated into Greek and Italian and he authored the article on alcoholism in the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Professor O’Brien’s second life has been devoted to his first love, creative writing, and he has published a variety of poems and short stories in literary journals. His debut novel, Aloysius the Great (Propertius Press), was published on Bloomsday 2020 and is brimming with Joycean allusions. It has been greeted with rave reviews on Amazon (where it can be purchased) and in Goodreads.