Poetry Ireland Day in Meath got off to an early enough start with a reading in St Patrick's Cathedral in Trim at 12 Noon organised by the Boyne Writers' Group. This is the second year they've had a reading at this venue and a beautiful one it is. A fair enough gathering of about ten or twelve arrived, to read, or listen to a favourite poem. Though I think most people read something. Michael Farry read "Father and Son" by F. R. Higgins and Mat Gilsenan read a poem written by his grandfather in the late eighteen hundreds if I'm not mistaken. Sounded good! Kyrie Murray read about a monument to be set in stone to the Celtic Tiger or was that a bull, and a few seemed to drift in at the end. The Boyne Writers had another reading later in the day in Kells while we were off to the library in Navan. 
Meath County Library.
Tom French of The Meath County Library was the host for this event and he laid down strict guidelines as to what you could read, in that it had to be a favourite poem and not one of your own which caught a number of people out including myself, but there were prizes to be had such as Ruth Padel's "52 Ways of looking at a poem" and "The Meath Anthology". This is the one I didn't get, but musn't complain. This turned out to be a very interesting evening in that people tendered everything from recitations to popular ballads. The one I remember best is Paul Martin doing Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat". Now I looked this up for both Nick and Johnny Cash, not bad Paul! Tommy Murray read a poem about swallows, might be a bit late in the year! Sounded good though Tommy.
Photos: St Patrick's Cathedral. Michael Farry and Mat Gilsenan
Michael Shiels.
Photos: Meath County Library. Tom French and Paul Martin.
