Introducing Riversdale: Ireland — 10 Sonic Poems, Vol. 1 — a new collection of sung poetry where Irish storytelling, folk music and psychological surrealism meet.
A comic, perceptive poem about projection, recognition and the uneasy boundary between observer and observed. Through mimicry and absurd humour, a childhood encounter becomes a small reversal of perspective, in which the human gaze unexpectedly finds itself looking back.
An observational and gently nostalgic poem in which a childhood hospital is reconstructed through humour, peculiar detail and the obscure logic of recollection. Beneath its nuns, missing jigsaw pieces, juggling oranges and biscuit-factory air lies something more delicate — an affection for the small rituals through which people create order, comfort and care in a world that can never be made entirely complete.
Enjoyed these? Discover all 10 Sonic Poems and read the words while you listen.
Alistair Sherwood is an Irish-UK singer-songwriter, acoustic guitarist, teacher, poet and creator of Sonic Poetry—an approach that brings poetry, melody, voice and atmospheric sound together while allowing the poem to remain at the centre of the work.
Neither conventional song nor spoken word, his Sonic Poetry draws on the traditions of Irish storytelling and folk music, combining quirky narrative with leanings towards psychological surrealism. Humour, memory, human behaviour and the natural world provide recurring points of departure.
Alistair emerged from the landscape surrounding Clara Bog Nature Reserve in County Offaly, Ireland—one of the finest remaining raised bogs in Western Europe, shaped by more than 10,000 years of natural history. That early relationship with landscape continues to inform a wider interest in nature, environmental stewardship and the cultural memory of place.
Alongside Sonic Poetry, his songwriting is rooted in spiritual Celtic folk and unconventional sea-shanty storytelling, exploring the point at which music, poetry and narrative begin to overlap. His album Riversdale: Ireland — 10 Sonic Poems, Vol. 1 brings this approach together in its first collected form.
Picture - Clara Bog Nature Reserve
Many the visitor has seen Ireland’s only native land reptile – the viviparous lizard, sunning itself on the Boardwalk. Newts, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, caterpillars, and frogs all make regular appearances. Listen carefully and you will hear the curlew, snipe, stonechat, willow warbler, meadow pipet and skylark. Some of these birds are seen at regular intervals as you walk along the Boardwalk. The site is also a host to Birds of Prey including kestrel and merlin.
