Circle of Pens ~ Poetry Trail/ Athboy!

Circle Of Pens ~ Poetry Trail/ Athboy!

There will be a poetry trail in Athboy on the Fair Green on the June Bank Holiday weekend from noon on Saturday the 5th of June until Monday the7th so if you have some time to spare why not wander around and have a read. Organized by the Athboy Writers' Forum.

The contact link is athboywritersforum@gmail.com or Mary Flood. With thanks to Sean Reilly, Bohermeen for the info. There is a poster to go with the above link but for some reason it would not load. 

 

Murder Most Foul - With Lyrics!

Bob Dylan ~ Murder Most Foul!

This video was loaded by Javier Ferreyros and with thanks because it must have taken both time and a lot of effort to put the images and lyrics together. Today is Bob Dylan's 80th birthday and something suitable to mark the occasion left a lot of options open, given the Dylan catalogue of songs. But I went for the one above because he was brave enough to write it and it's one of those conspiracies that won't go away. If you look at the singer songwriters that came up through the sixties and the plastic pop culture of today you have to wonder what's happened to this generation. I heard an old style journalist being interviewed on local radio and he described them as a generation that's bred to compliance. Anyway what do you think? 

The Last Gunfighter Ballad - Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings

The Last Gunfighter Ballad - Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death of one of America's great singer songwriters Guy Clark ( November 6th 1941 - May17th 2021). Poet and storyteller, many Irish people will be familiar with Dolores Keane's recording of, Immigrant Eyes or his much recorded and played classic hit, Desperados Waiting for a Train. But there were many more as well. I see from a wikipedia comment that he was known as the Fifth Highway Man and well deserved. One of my favourite tracks would be the 'Girsa' version of Immigrant Eyes but I picked the one above for a certain reason. Loaded by katson6 and with thanks. Visit the youtube site for the lyrics and comments. 

Dunshaughlin Poetry Trail!

 Dunshaughlin Poetry Trail!

Meant to give this a mention much earlier. The poetry trail is a project organized by a Dunshaughlin community group as part of the 'Keeping Well Initiative' and still a day or two left of it maybe. It began on the 29th of April and  runs for a three week period when the posters will be taken down and presented to the Library Service where they will go on display in any of the branches large enough to accommodate them The spirit of the poetry trail is similar to that of a treasure hunt where you discover the items as you explore the trail.

The trail runs from the RC church at one end of the village to the James Fox memorial at the other end and there are 38 poems in all with smaller sizes in shop windows of various establishments on both sides of the main street. Larger outdoor posters are located in prominent positions along the route. You need a little time on your hands but it should be an enjoyable experience. Indeed a poetry trail for the county or other towns - not a bad idea! With thanks to Barbara Scally of the Dunshaughlin Library for the above information.

Professor Joe Cleary and Professor Maud Ellmann discuss 'Small World: Ir...

One of Ireland's best known writers died during the week and I was searching through youtube for something appropriate to load and selected the above, so with thanks to 'Cambridge University Press - Academic'. Many tributes to him out there and the 'Arena' programme on RTE had some interesting content. Hope you enjoy. Seamus Deane (9th February 1940 - 12th May 2021). From Derry in Northern Ireland but late of Dublin.

New Irish Writing: The Irish Independent!

 New Irish Writing: The Irish Independent!

With competitions few and far between these days here's one that is free to enter but only for writers who have yet to publish their first book. Edited by Ciaran Carty, full details can be had by accessing the Poetry Ireland Competition page (Link to the right) or by going to the Irish Independent website. Stories submitted should not exceed 2000 words and up to four poems may be submitted. There is no entry form required and writers whose work is selected will receive €120 for fiction and €60 for poetry. You can email your entry preferably as a 'Word Document' to newirishwriting@independent.ie

Please make sure you include your name, address and contact number as well as a brief biographical paragraph. New Irish Writing appears on the last Saturday of each month in the Irish Independent and is an opportunity open to writers who are Irish or resident in Ireland.

On Raglan Road - By Patrick Kavanagh

This one was loaded by Patrick Thomas Howard and a visit to his youtube site I'd suggest to view the credits or indeed to read the comments. I remember visiting the Newgrange site in County Meath many years ago and asking the girl in the bookshop there what poetry books she'd recommend and she replied that the Americans were only interested in either Kavanagh or Yeats. Kavanagh was indeed a genius and little recognized for such in his lifetime and certainly not rewarded for it. Local connection as well in that Hilda brought him down to Dunsany to see if the Lord would act as patron. It didn't work out but he wrote a poem about it. Check it out. Enjoy. With thanks to all involved in the video above. Something for the May Bank Holiday weekend.   

* Back with a little time.

The above was first published as a poem in The Irish Press on 3rd of October 1946 (Wikipedia) and has its critics because of the repetition of words and the odd phrasing. Also noting from the comments that the seventh line has been changed from the original. Read from the page it is easy to find flaws but I think Kavanagh himself said somewhere that it was originally conceived as a musical piece and as such it is stunning. Luke Kelly in his recording knocks a few corners off and doing so in my humble opinion improves it greatly. There are those who find fault also with the last verse but that is to take a couple of lines out of context of what could be said to be the more important meaning or part of and what Kavanagh intended with regard to interpretation, you'll have to ask him! But as the great Leonard said, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in". So be sure to bring your dark glasses!