Poems of Irish journeys, illness, love and unexpected grace
The holy can meet us on a railway platform, beside a dialysis machine, in a father’s familiar jacket, or over coffee at home.
About the Book
Some moments ask us to stop and pay attention: a stranger’s kindness on a platform, flowers keeping watch beside a hospital bed, the quiet of home while we wait for someone we love.
The Holy in the Passing Place gathers poems rooted in Irish landscapes and the experiences of everyday life. Trains, rivers, hospital rooms, ancient stones and familiar streets become places where faith, memory and belonging meet.
The collection explores life on dialysis, the tenderness and humour of marriage, grief after a father’s death, and the histories held in the places through which we pass. Christian faith comes into conversation with neurodivergent experience, making room for questions, weariness, desire and delight.
These poems invite readers to pause amid their own journeys and notice what might otherwise pass unseen.
Rooted in Place and Experience
These poems grew out of particular encounters: journeys made by rail, hours spent receiving treatment, walks through Irish towns and countryside, and the shared rhythms of life with my husband, Andrew.
All were first published on NeuroDivine.ie. Bringing them together allows their connections to emerge across four sections, moving between outward journeys, the demands of the body, the making of a home, and the things that remain.
The cover photograph is my own, taken in Moore Abbey Wood, Monasterevin, County Kildare. Its winding path belongs to the same local landscape that nourishes much of my writing.
Inside the Book
The collection is arranged in four sections:
- Roads and Thresholds — journeys, encounters and the spaces between destinations.
- Hours the Body Keeps — illness, treatment, waiting and the rhythms of the body.
- Love Makes a Home — companionship, marriage, family and belonging.
- What Remains — memory, history, mortality and enduring traces of life.
An introduction opens the collection, while notes on selected poems offer context for the places and experiences behind the writing.
Who is this Book for?
This collection will be of interest to:
- Readers who enjoy poetry rooted in Irish places and everyday life.
- Those exploring faith through personal experience.
- People living with chronic illness, and those who accompany them.
- Neurodivergent readers seeking recognisable experiences in poetry.
- Anyone reflecting on love, grief, memory and belonging.
The poems welcome readers with different beliefs and experiences. They begin with ordinary life and leave room for readers to bring their own.
Book Details
Author
Michael McFarland Campbell
Format
Pocket paperback
Price
€14.99
Publication
2026
Availability
Available to order through the Lulu Bookstore. Other currency prices are available; delivery charges are shown at checkout.
A Note from the Author
Much of my life is spent travelling between places, waiting, or attending to the routines that keep me well. Poetry gives me a way to notice what happens within those hours: the kindness of another person, a remembered voice, a change in the light, or the comfort of coming home to Andrew.
Faith belongs within these experiences. It is present in questions and weariness as well as gratitude and joy.
Gathering these poems into a book has allowed me to see conversations between them that were less apparent when they appeared separately. I hope readers will find something familiar here, and perhaps something that helps them look again at their own passing places.
Related Books
You may also be interested in:
- A Living Cloud of Irish Witnesses — hymns celebrating the saints of Ireland.
- A NeuroDivine Rosary for the Hospital — prayers and reflections for hospital days.
Explore further books and resources at NeuroDivine.ie.
Order Your Copy
Pocket paperback · €14.99
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