Pat O'Brien

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (2)

2 Stories

35 karma pts

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“Tribute” by Pat O'Brien

Submitted to Contest #211

In the hour before dawn, we slip out in the darkness, gliding over the deep black Atlantic.  The only sound is the chug of the engine. The boat noses east, where the sky pales to grey, and then magenta, until a crescent of rising sun casts golden rays upon the rolling water.  As the sun moves higher, the water and the sky merge into the brilliant piercing blue of impending autumn. For more than seventy summers, we have bobbed and rolled in this old boat. In these later years, in the winter, he'd haul her out of the brin...

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“Bringing Home Christmas” by Pat O'Brien

Submitted to Contest #178

There is a tradition in Ireland called ͞bringing home Christmas. Da used to tell us about it, how the day before Christmas his Ma and Da went to town for all the ingredients for the Christmas feast. The Christmas goose was hung from the rafters waiting to be roasted on Christmas Day. The brothers and sisters all collected greens from the woods. By sunset on Christmas Eve, there would be holly hanging along the hearth and over the doors. Then a big white candle would be set into a turnip and lit and put in the window to welcome travelers...

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Author bio

I have been writing songs, short stories and poetry for several years. I play and sing Irish music, and have served as poet laureate in the city where I live. More lately I have been writing memoirs from my life as the daughter of Irish immigrants, living in Boston in the 1950’s.