Shadow and Light Poetry

Irish-ish

Irish at Heart

I grew up
In an ethnically mixed family
18 nationalities in my tangled blood line
Later when I did my DNA
It confirmed that I had substantial
Irish, Celtic, and Welsh ancestry

As well as Basque, Finnish, French,
Danish, Dutch, Germanic, Italian
Jewish, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish,
Ukrainian, Russia ancestry
and surprisingly Mongolian and
Nigerian ancestry

But no Cherokee ancestry
Hidden away as they were from
The lost tribe of the Cherokee Indians

But my grandparents spoke Cherokee
So, I know that the family legends
Were true

My family history was indeed
Tangled up
I look “pan-ethnic”
Could be
almost any ethnicity


But one thing was clear
I had inherited an Irish spirit
From my mother

Love to talk, love to drink
Love to fight, love to love
All from my Irish roots

So on St Patrick's day
I wear green
And proudly call
Myself Irish
Or perhaps I am just
Irish-ish ?

Pan-ethnic - could pass for almost any ethnicity

Adjective
A sample sentence
portmanteau combing pan meaning all and ethnic
He had a "pan-ethnic" look and could pass for almost any ethnic group except perhaps for African although he could pass as half-black or half-Chinese.

Irish-ish

considers yourself to be Irish even if you are not Irish but have an Irish spirit.

Adjective
Derived from Irish denoting supposed Irish ethnic background

Example sentence George Santos who considers himself” Jewish”, would probably also consider himself “Irish-ish” on St. Patrick’s day.

Please be guided for this round's prompt.

MARCH 2023
Write a FREE VERSE poem about Leprechauns, shamrocks, Irish, or anything related to St. Patrick. Your poem must contain at least one (1) word and at most three (3) words you created. No line count or word count is required. Feel free to express yourself as long as it falls into a poetry category. Make sure to follow the mechanics.

March Round begins on the first day and ends on the last day of Mar 
Please carefully read the following mechanics to qualify for this contest. Although, I may not disqualify non-conforming entrants, your entry will not be graded under Adherence to the Rules criterion.

In a Static or Book entry item, write something about a given prompt for the current round. The prompt is usually the form of poetry to be used.

Create/invent your own word. Word can be either a noun, verb, adjective, adverb or an interjection. The word you created must have the (a) part of speech, (b) type and origin/etymology, (c) definition, and (d) sentence usage. See a sample below:

Gervic's Word Creations: ▼

You may create a minimum of one (1) and a maximum of three (3) words per round. All words submitted must be used/presented in your submitted poetry. Only one (1) poetry per member per round. Word creation will be judged separately from your composition, thus, submitting three words means a higher chance of winning the Word Creation Rewards. If you plan to submit your poem in your future publication, might as well prepare a real word alternative for the ones you invented. Real words means those words that exist in an English dictionary.

The words you created must be displayed at the bottom of your item (this is a must). Highlight/bold/italicize the word(s) within your composition.

Properly rate your content based on Writing.com's "Content Rating System (CRS)" . Entries with 18+ ratings are accepted provided that it doesn't show hints of foul words, cursing, sex, and affection with the inanimate object. Keep forum posts clean for everyone.

This is a monthly contest that opens every first of the month and closes on every end. The host may or may not review your piece and all submitted pieces can be edited until the closing date. Only one entry per person per month.

We reserve the right to hold prizes if there are not enough entries. All qualifying entries for the current round will be carried over to the next. One winner will be awarded if there are only 3-5 entries, two winners for 6-9 entries, and three winners plus honorable mentions if more than 10 entries.

All submissions must be new and created for the current round. Previously awarded items from other contests are not eligible except for items with vanity awardicons.

Poetry pieces submitted can be edited up until the closing date.

Judge's decision is final and irrevocable