written for Nicola Sharpe
I met Nicky at the end of June in 2024. She was looking for someone to set up a writing group so she could finish a memoir. This is a woman who has been through everything and more to be where they are now, and I am so utterly proud to call them my friend.
I really hope that one day they’ll be able to tell their story to a wider audience, but there’s stuff to get through before that happens. For now, I wrote this poem for her knowing that whatever the world throws at her, she will simply deal with it with dignity and sheer raw power.
As an ex-teacher she has taught me so much in a relatively short period of time. The craic, my friends, is everything, and long may it continue.
Simple Things
I don’t remember like you do
permanence eschews the map
as there is no past to mind
no landscape to review
the truth’s become a test you
are helping me revise for
sharing a timeline that’s real
I will give everything as thanks
your simple joy that teaches me
reduces all this history to calm
as new hues overtake me
as hopeful I will escape from black
we can stick together in the light
the good each day extends the journey back
and the losses finally calmly will be forgotten
we will be consumed in craic.
Poem copyright S. Reeson © 2026
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