Book Launch!!

"Reflections of Time" Verona Pentony

St Audeon's Church Cornmarket Street Dublin
From Google Images

Verona Pentony invites you to join her on Thursday the 11th of December at 7pm for the launch of her second book of poems "Reflections of Time". The venue is the above and there seems to be quite a bit of history about the place so worth checking out on google. Another church of the same name quite close. A catholic one from the nineteenth century, so don't mix them up! Verona has been a member of The Meath Writers' Circle for a number of years now and would love to see you there.

 RSVP thepoet@veronapentony.com . Tel: 086 8734306.

Previous publication: "Reflections from the Heart"
  www.veronapentony.com .
 So if you're a lover of poetry why not drop in on the night. I believe there is a lucky stone there so you can make a wish!  

Book Launch!!

"Among the Breffni Hills/Felix Halton"

Piker's Lodge Lough Gowna

"Among The Breffni Hills" is the title of a book of poems composed by the late Felix Halton and set for a launch date of Saturday the 6th of December in the Piker's Lodge Lough Gowna on the Cavan/Longford border. So if you happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods and want what will be a great night's entertainment why not drop in and enjoy the craic. Anton MacGowan will do the honours on the night so there's sure to be plenty of music and song. The collection of poems has been compiled by Bridie Halton and is as they say ready to go to press. Felix was a gifted traditional poet from Mullahoran in County Cavan and much of what he composed was recorded on tape and transcribed here by Bridie over the past year. The book will retail at €15 and includes a number of photographs both black and white

Politics and War in Meath 1913-1923

Politics and War in Meath 1913-1923

First published in 1983 the above is an often first hand account of the events that shaped the country and the county we know today. Oliver Coogan was a history teacher in Dunshaughlin Community College and his detailed and comprehensive listings and insights brings to light much of what has been forgotten or indeed passed unknown to the ordinary person. Drawing on sources such as the Meath Chronicle and the Drogheda Independent, personal reminiscences and others etc, he puts a little shape to an era that changed everything. Interesting reading through though, is the shifting loyalties and allegiance, the sweeping changes and the dust settling, though maybe not in 1923, much later out in the mid twenties I'd say. A great book for anyone with an interest in local history and available from the local library. Published by Meath County Council.

The Gregory Ó Donoghue International Poetry Prize!

The Gregory Ó Donoghue International Poetry Prize!

From Google Images.

This is a prize worth winning and with a closing date fast approaching (30th November). The first prize is €1000 plus a week long retreat in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre also publication the the Southword Literary Journal and the chance to read in the Cork Spring Poetry Festival in February. So there! The second prize is €500 with €250 for third with ten runner-up poems to be published in Southwards and a standard fee of €30. Full details of everything and submission guidelines if you click on www.munsterlit.ie so do just that and good luck! Not in can't win!

Alan Seeger - Rendezvous With Death (read by Pete Seeger)

"I Have a Rendezvous With Death" by Alan Seeger (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Following on the WW1 theme and the event in the Library here's a poem I may have posted before. Alan Seeger was an American poet who enlisted in the French Foreign Legion as the  Americans were not in the war until 1917. He died at Belloy-En-Santerre during the battle of the Somme in 1916. He was the uncle of the American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger and not forgetting Peggy. With thanks to spoken verse and youtube and the old share button.

Navan Writers' Group WW1 Commemoration.

Navan Writers' Group WW1 Commemoration!

Sean Reilly

The above is Sean Reilly who entertained at last night's event in the Library to commemorate the fallen in the first world war, an event organized by Edel Gillick and the young writers who meet every Saturday morning in the library and indeed they were the highlight of the evening with their stories and poems. Well tutored by Edel they managed to give a child's eye view on what it must have been like to watch your father or brothers march off to war and the dear diary entries or letters from the front were very good and hopefully make it into a book. There were readings from many others as well and of note was Edel's own contribution. John Doyle MCd and kept things moving along and there was a demonstration and talk by a guest from the Irish Military War Museum in Collon www.imwm.ie  on conditions in the trenches and the kind and types of equipment used by both sides. A little late arriving I think I missed some of the early contributions but a fair old crowd was there and poems and photographs are posted along the wall.    

The Meath Writers' Circle/November 2014!

The Meath Writers' Circle/November 2014!

The Meath Writers' Circle held their monthly meeting on Thursday night last with about fifteen in attendance and all in agreement the Christmas party is a go. Anyone interested in attending should contact Willie at 086 1085528. Scheduled for Thursday the 4th of December in the Trim Castle Hotel at 8pm.The final details on the launch of the poems of Felix Halton not yet to hand but coming very soon. The launch will I believe be in Mullahoran County Cavan and a later one perhaps in Trim. Something about presents for the Christmas party but must check out. I'm off to read something beyond the pale. Next event the Library on Tuesday night. 

White Savage/Fintan Ó Toole

The Invention of America.

When William Johnson left Meath sometime around 1738 he could hardly have foreseen the part he would play in ensuring that America would be English speaking from sea to sea but his exploits in the French and Indian wars of the period would do just that. Born in 1715 close beside Killeen Castle his family were tenants of the Warrens who themselves were tenants of the Plunkets and had connections on both sides back to the Gaelic MacShanes  and the Anglo Norman. They found themselves on the wrong side after the Battle of the Boyne and for a young man from what was a Jacobite background the shift in fortunes must have been immense. For the Catholic gentry of Meath it became expedient to shift both allegiance and religion and this the Warrens and Johnsons did. Sent out to manage his uncle's estates in the new world William Johnson prospered beyond anything he could have imagined and has been cast almost as the ideal american both in literature and myth and this allowing for the fact that his family ended up on the wrong side again in the American war of independence. The White Savage by Fintan Ó Toole is a great read though it tends to run on many asides but for anyone interested in the making of America or the history of County Meath, an absolute must. Look it up! 

Halloween!

A poem for Halloween!

Cúchulainn and Ferdia
Ardee.

Wild Things

In the half light
Between night and day
Some fractured part
To celebrate diversity
They play.

Ghost dancing
In an Indian summer
The ones we couldn't
Tame.

Before the whole
Damn thing is over
And everyone's
The same.

Frank Murphy.