Crannog 60 Launch ~ Spring 2024!

Crannog 60 Launch ~ Spring 2024!

Back there in the files somewhere is last year's launch and some great material. Yet to watch this through and hope you enjoy. With thanks to Tony for permission to use.

An Tobar ~ Poetry for Pleasure!

 An Tobar ~ Poetry for Pleasure/Ardbraccan Navan!

The next poetry session is on 30th April 

From now on, as agreed at last meeting, we will have our session on the last Tuesday of each month.

Hope to see Tuesday 30th April at 7.30 pm

Here is a list of dates for remainder of the year. We will finalize date for December nearer the time.

Sessions. 

Tuesday 28th May.

Tuesday 25th June

Tuesday 30th July 

August  no Poetry Group, enjoy the Summer Recess

We are back again in September

 

Tuesday 24th September

Tuesday 29th October 

Tuesday 26th November 

December to be confirmed.

Slán go fóill 

The theme is War Poets which includes all wars not just WW1 which hopefully will encourage some diversity.

I had  to change my email address. So please my new email address is jimowens.pg@gmail.com 

Best wishes and thanks.

Jim

087 9676728 

Christy Moore "They Never Came Home" (1985)

Christy Moore "They Never Came Home" (1985)

Crocodile tears - we've had them for one hundred years. There are a number of different versions of the truth of this but I've gone for this one because the lyrics are included. Christy got himself into some trouble at the time for his recording but interesting to hear 'Prime Time' play out the hard edge last night. With thanks to WestHam712 who posted and condolences to all who never gave up. 

Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition 2024!

Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition 2024!

This one has a closing date that is fast approaching and the deadline for entries is Sunday the 5th of May, online or by post. A number of local writers have featured in this and the winner will be invited to read at the outdoor event in Pallas on Sunday the 2nd of June. €10 for three entries with full details on their website at -

 http://olivergoldsmithfestival.com 

Be sure to read all the rules and conditions for entry. 

                                     Statue at Pallas 2017

Ireland 100: An Old Song Re-Sung │ Denise Chaila │ RTÉ

Ireland 100: An Old Song Re-Sung ~ Denise Chaila/RTE.

Spancil Hill.

Came across this one by accident and will have to chase up the background info. Denise Chaila is a Zambian rapper and singer and poet from Limerick but as she says, "Where are you from?" Loaded by RTÉ Ireland's National Public Service and with thanks.

The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Trim Library/Creative Writing!

 The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Trim Library/ April Meeting 2024.

The next meeting of the writers group will take place on Thursday the 4th of April from 6.15 to 8.15 pm and everyone is welcome to attend. Hopefully we can build the group up again after the Covid years so bring a poem or a piece of prose or whatever interests you in the literary scene or just drop in for a while. Hope to see you there. 

The Emigrant Irish by Eavan Boland; performed by Tony Reilly

The Emigrant Irish by Eavan Boland performed by Tony Reilly.

Came across this while looking up some of Eavan's poems. Her poetry is the prompt or theme for next Tuesday night's session at An Tobar and staying on the same subject if you type into Google for information on poems about emigration this one is very likely to come up. The number of songs on emigration are just too countless to measure and you won't have to go very far from your own front door to find one. Posted by 'The Maine Irish Heritage Center' and with thanks.

Eavan Boland: 24 September 1944 - 27 April 2020.

Michael Farry ~ Book Launch!

Michael Farry ~ An Apology for Our Survival/Book Launch.

Michael Farry

Michael Farry and Rachel Coventry

Rachel Coventry, Michael Farry and Noreen Walshe

Michael Farry, Barbara Flood and Paddy Smith

Paddy Smith and his daughters.

Just a few photos from last night's launch of Michael Farry's fourth collection of poems.

 

An Tobar ~ Poetry for Pleasure/ March 2024!

 An Tobar ~ Ardbraccan/Navan

Greetings  Poetry Friends,

Our next Poetry for Pleasure takes place on Tuesday 26th March at 7.30pm in An Tobar,Ardbraccan

The guiding theme is the late Eavan Boland.

But please remember any poem you wish to share is welcome. Some participants may wish to share a poem they have written. Great, please feel most welcome.  

Enclosed  is a brief  intoduction to Eavan Boland that Frances Rocks has kindly prepared for us.

Eavan Boland (1944-2020) was born in Dublin but raised in London.  She experienced anti-racism which gave her a keen sense of her identity. She was one of the most prominent voices in Irish poetry. Her experiences as a wife and mother of two children influenced her to recognize the beauty and significance of everyday living. She wrote plainly and eloquently about being a woman, mother and exile. Boland commented incisively on contemporary subjects and wrote intensely personal poems about history, womanhood and relationships. She taught at several colleges in America and was a professor of English at Stanford University, California.

'Poets are those who ransack their perishing mind and find pattern and form.' Boland

 'Poetry begins where language starts; in the shadows and accidents of one person's life.' Boland

'Memory, change, loss, the irrecoverable past – such are the shared conditions of humankind, with which Boland scrupulously engages.' Anne Stevenson, Poet (1933-2020)

  .Looking forward to our March meeting.

Slán go fóill

Jim
087 967 6728

Book Launch ~ Michael Farry!

 Book Launch ~ Michael Farry!

Former editor of Boyne Berries and the winner of many prizes for his poetry Michael Farry will launch his latest collection of poems in the Jonathan Swift Cultural Centre in Trim this coming Friday the 15th at 7 pm with Rachel Coventry of Galway doing the honours. The admission is free.

The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Trim Library!

 The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Trim Library!

Last Thursday night's meeting of the group attracted  perhaps twenty four in all to our get-together and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months. Chaired by Ciaran with a free writing exercise on the fine line between love and hate there were a number of contributions which combined both. One of the prompts for our next meeting is 'Patience', which I focused in on as I don't have much and the other one escapes me at the moment. The next meeting of our group is on Thursday the 4th of April at 6 pm to 8.15 pm. On a final note I'd like to thank everyone at Trim Library for their assistance and support in accommodating us.  

The Meath Writers' Circle ~ March 2024!

 The Meath Writers' Circle ~ March 2024!

Just a reminder that the next meeting of the group will be in Trim Library on this Thursday night coming starting at 6.30 pm and new members are especially welcome. Hope to see you there. 

Mad Girl's Love Song by Sylvia Plath!

Mad Girl's Love Song by Sylvia Plath!

The prompt for last night's poetry session in An Tobar was Sylvia Plath and this is the one I went for. Said to be inspired by a Mike (Myron) Lots who stood her up on a date, it carries a different emotive charge than some of her later work. Published in the Smith Review where she attended college in Massachusetts in 1951 and later published in the Mademoiselle, a New York magazine in 1953, it was not included in any of her subsequent collections but was published as an afterword in The Bell Jar. I read somewhere that it was one of her favourite poems. Written in a villanelle form it is a beautiful poem.

Now I'm subject to correction on all of the above because previously the only poem I'd be familiar with was 'Daddy'. This was loaded by 'Illneas' and with thanks so a visit to youtube for the notes and comments and other info is a must.

An Tobar ~ Poetry for Pleasure/ February Meeting!

 An Tobar ~ Poetry for Pleasure/ February Meeting.

Folks,

February is racing to its conclusion but before it does we have our Poetry for Pleasure on Tuesday 27th at 7.30pm in An Tobar, Ardbraccan.

The suggested guiding theme is Sylvia Plath.

Patricia has kindly given us a  snippet to whet our appetite to explore the poetry of this significant poet.

 Sylvia Plath was an American poet born in 1932 in Massachusetts who is now and has been for decades regarded as a major poet whose work challenges us artistically and psychologically. Her fame and recognition came after her tragic death in 1963 when her husband Ted Hughes discovered the Ariel poems. 

Philip Larkin said of her poems "They exist in a high pitched ecstasy, like nothing else in Literature".

She said herself, "when my sleeping pill wears off I am up at about five, in my study, writing like mad, the blood jet is poetry, there is no stopping it" 

Her brilliance won her a Fullbright Scholarship which took her to Cambridge and it was in England that she married Ted Hughes. Seamus Heaney, Robert Lowell, John Osborne and Philip Larkin and many more literary figures paid homage to Plath and recognize the moral and psychological depths in her work.

 Can I again underline that any poem you wish to share with the group is most welcome.

 Carol and others will update us on their research on a possible visit to the Francis Ledwidge Cottage Museum 

 Looking forward to our poetry session next Tuesday evening 

 Jim.

Tel: 087 967 6728. 

 

 

 

"Kavanagh in Umbria", read by poet Macdara Woods.

"Kavanagh in Umbria" read by poet Macdara Woods.

A poet with some very strong local connections, Macdara Woods spent part of his childhood on his grandmother's farm in Co. Meath. Here he discusses his relationship with both Kavanagh  and Umbria. He was a member of Aosdána and married to the poet Eiléan Ni Chuilleanáin. A visit to Youtube and other sources with regard to his contributions and background is a must. The above video was loaded by the UCD Library Special Collections and with thanks.

The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Change of Venue!

 The Meath Writers' Circle ~ Change of Venue!

Hi All,

       The next meeting of the Meath Writers' Circle will take place in Trim Library on Thursday the 7^th of March at 6.30 pm to 7pm and we would especially welcome new members to the group. It is important to bring new energy and direction if we are to continue over the coming years so if you know anyone who would be interested in joining please bring them along. We have been in existence now for over thirty years and it would be nice to keep it going for another few. 

The facilities at Trim library are excellent and there is no charge for the meeting room. Also tea and coffee are available for those who require refreshment. (Also free!)  A tour of the new theatre may be possible as well. Please let your friends  know of the meeting date.

Finally a special note of thanks to Amanda Quigley of Trim Library for her assistance in the above.

                                                                                                                                                           All the best

                                                                                                                                                              Frank Murphy

* The time that is given above is just a 'drop in time'. The Library closes at 8.30 pm. So the finish time is about 8.15 pm. 

Mirror in February by Thomas Kinsella!

Mirror In February by Thomas Kinsella ~ Declan Walsh.

While surfing through the net and looking for something suitable for February or the beginning of the Celtic year I came across this video from 'Declan Walsh ~ My Poetry Readings' and I hope he will forgive my borrowing of his presentation. If you journey over to his site on Youtube there is further information and comments, Please check out. 

Thomas Kinsella : Born - May 4 1928.  Died - December 22 2021

The Meath Writers' Circle ~ February Meeting 2024!

 The Meath Writers' Circle ~ February Meeting 2024!

The next meeting of our group takes place on this Thursday night coming, the first of February at 7 pm in Navan Library and hope to see you there. The group has been going now for over thirty years and it would be nice to keep it going for a few more. Bring yourself, bring a friend, a piece of poetry or prose, yours or something by a favourite writer. All contributions are welcome. Take care and although it's late, enjoy the new year.

Tribute to Melanie Safka: A Voice That Touched Hearts | Now Spinning Mag...

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday!

Phil Aston's tribute says it all and a visit to Youtube to read the comments is a must." Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma."

Melanie Safka:  February 3rd 1947 ~ January 23 rd 2024. 

An Tobar ~ Ardbraccan/ Poetry for Pleasure !

An Tobar ~ Ardbraccan/ Poetry for Pleasure, January 2024

 Greetings and happy New Year

Our first poetry session of 2024 will be on Tuesday 23 January at 7.30pm in An Tobar, Ardbraccan.

The suggested themes are New Beginnings or Fresh Start

But as you may know any poem you wish to share is most welcome.

Please feel welcome to encourage any interested person to come along.

Can someone remind Tom Flanagan as I don't have an email address for him

Looking forward to our session on Tuesday evening.

Hopefully Storm Isha will be well gone by then!

Best wishes 

Jim Owens

087 9676728

* Postponed until next Tuesday due to Storm Jocelyn!

Hope is The Thing With Feathers - Emily Dickinson (Powerful Life Poetry)

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers ~ Emily Dickinson

Something for the year ahead though there seems to be very little to be hopeful about given the number of wars about. Emily Dickinson was perhaps America's greatest poet though I'm sure many would argue that and for a few others. Birds of prey seem to be much more the common variety these days or perhaps they always were. Edmund Burke once remarked that 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men nothing' and I'll leave you to work that one out for yourselves! Loaded by RedFrost Motivation and with thanks. To youtube for the comments.

Word Skin ~ Review!

 Word Skin ~ Review!

Salmon Poetry

Word Skin is a series of observations or reflections that dip in and out of what is both the personal and classical myth. A sometimes dreamlike journey whose striking feature is the exquisite language used to describe the experience. Her descriptive writing is excellent at best and will have you reaching for other reference to tease out the layers that are beneath. A once through for anything of review does not do it justice and everyone will have their own favourite or favourites but the poem I came back to was 'The Natural Order' and there is a great kindness here though the Welsh poet might argue that a bit.

This is Orla's first collection of poems though she's had a number of chapbooks published and was the editor of 'Boyne Berries' magazine and now edits her own online magazine 'Drawn to the Light Press'. Hard copies are available as well. She is widely published and is the winner of many awards. Retails at €12 and was launched by Michael Farry.

http://www.salmonpoetry.com 

Cathalbui Poetry Competition 2024!

 Cathalbui Poetry competition 2024

Cathalbui Poetry competition 2024

 1 Maximum 20 lines 

2 Please paste your unpublished poem into the email 

3 Send to: belcoopoet@gmail.com

4 Closing date: 17 March 2024

Results announced at Macnean Hedge School 6 July 2024

Patrick Harte poetry prize and plaque; 1st £100: 2nd £60 3rd £40

* From the Poetry Ireland website