Bio
Now retired, Jim Conwell lives in London. He grew up in the Irish community in Cricklewood in the 1950s and '60s. Balancing the rigid demands of Catholicism and the cultural tensions inherent in emigration, were two major influences in his childhood. Those influences and the emotional insights gained in 36 years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, form the content of his work. He is published widely in magazines and anthologies. He has had two poems shortlisted in the Bridport Poetry Prize and was longlisted in the 2023 Brian Dempsey Memorial Pamphlet competition. His first collection Immigrant Journey was published by Vole Books in October 2024.
Jim Conwell
Drawing Water
It was easy to get water
from my mother's well. Only that,
walking back with the heavy bucket full,
the long field sloped uphill. And
the eager, bulky cow, knowing you had
been silly enough to allow her to sink
her soft, moist nose into that clear water
once before, would seek you out.
My father's well, across two fields,
on the very edge of the farm,
covered, down dark slabs of stone steps,
where you would sometimes have to seek
the sunken water, to call it out from the depth,
was more full with threatening spirits.