Michael Hargadon, Sligo Poet

One of the pleasures of the internet is the ease with which you can obtain second-hand copies of long out of print books. I enjoy reading novels, short stories and books of poetry especially those from Sligo published in the past. Someone once said to me "You can enjoy reading bad books too" and she was right.

I often search sites such as ABEBooks for old books of poetry by long dead Sligo authors. Recently I got a copy of A Lovely Home by Sligo-born Michael A Hargadon (1888-1968) published by Maunsel and Company in 1915. My copy was Withdrawn from Stock at Keele University Library Staffordshire.

Very much of the time, deservedly forgotten but still an enjoyable read. We don't write like this any more. Come to think of it some actually do!
Among the poems about his childhood, schooling, friends is this poem on Yeats:

William Butler Yeats

A Son of Sligo now careers sublime,
The truest, sweetest poet of our time,
Whose fame in every cultured nation rings,
In cots of peasants, palaces of kings,
Whose mystic calls allure us to explore
Enchanting fields we never saw before.
Immortal Yeats! long may thy course aspire;
Long may they adept fingers tune the lyre;
Long may the lustre of they mind aspire,
The brightest flame cast from the muse's fire.

You can download and read the whole book A Lovely Home here. It's not the same as having the book in your hands!

Hargadon is an interesting character. He was born in Calry near Sligo town. He became a journalist and in 1915 emigrated to Canada where he continued as a journalist with the Montreal Daily Star. Later he became publicity officer with the Canadian Pacific Railways.

Towards the end of 1915 a campaign was launched in Canada to aid the families of soldiers who had gone to fight in World War 1. The newly arrived Hargadon wrote a poem asking for the help of the public for this cause which was published in Montreal papers and later all over Canada.
A fund of a few million dollars was subscribed and Hargadon became well know all over the country. Part of the poem below;

TO THOSE THEY LEFT BEHIND
(A Poem for the Patriotic Fund)

Your wives flit around about your homes,
And give you of their care;
Some of the boys who went left wives
As kind and just as fair;
Your wives have all the joys they need,
Their dresses warm and neat --
How could you see a soldier's wife
Ill clad upon the street?

. . .

The boys who went left these ones too
Appealing to your store;
You will not miss all that is asked,
So give a little more.
Thus giving and thus helping
You will be aiding on
The struggle that will have no end
Till victory has shone;
Each bill you give is a shell
Shot at the Kaiser's heart
Shoot, shoot and shoot until that hell
Is shot and rent apart.

Oh! drop those dollar bombs until
Our fiendish German foes
Are beaten back to the abyss
From which at first they rose
Give, give your brave assistance
Until the earth is free --
Upon the struggle rests the fate
Of you as well as me.

Hargadon continued to write poetry and published Irish and Canadian Poems in 1921 and Among the Mountains 1925. The latter was illustrated with paintings of Canadian mountain scenes.

Information on the poet comes from Worthies of Sligo by John C McTernan the former Sligo County Librarian who built up the local archives section of Sligo Co Library and has published a number of books on Sligo.

Hugo Williams to Read in Cavan

Wednesday 11 November will see local and international talents come together for a unique evening of poetry and song at the Radisson Hotel, Cavan, sponsored by Cavan County Council Arts Office and initiated by Cavan poet, Rebecca O'Connor, who has taken part in festivals including the Caomhnú Literary Festival and the Flat Lake Arts and Literary Festival.

The special guest of the evening is Hugo Williams, (left) one of the UK’s finest poets. His Collected Poems, which brings together work from eight books, was published in 2002. His poetry collection Dear Room (2006), was shortlisted for the 2006 Costa Poetry Award. His latest collection is West End Final (2009), shortlisted for the 2009 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) and shortlisted for the T S Eliot prize. You can hear Hugo read four poems at the Poetry Archive here. Review of West End Final here.

He will be accompanied by a young poet from Dublin by the name of Ciarán O’Rourke and Cavan’s very own musical star, Lisa O’Neill. To listen to Lisa O’Neill sing go here on YouTube.

There’ll also be an open mic slot for singers and poets (please contact Rebecca in advance if you fancy taking part), along with music from Ciaran O’Neill and Brouhaha in the cellar bar afterwards.

Venue: Radisson, Cavan. Time: 7.30 pm. Tickets: Euro 10. You can book in advance by contacting Rebecca O’Connor at oconnreb@hotmail.com or 087 2657251.

Press report here.

All Souls' Day

Today is All Souls' Day the day we traditionally visited churches and graveyards to pray for the dead and gain indulgences which shortened their time in Purgatory.

The poem that comes to my mind today is Yeats' All Souls’ Night - the first verse:

Midnight has come, and the great Christ Church Bell
And many a lesser bell sound through the room;
And it is All Souls’ Night,
And two long glasses brimmed with muscatel
Bubble upon the table. A ghost may come;
For it is a ghost’s right,
His element is so fine
Being sharpened by his death,
To drink from the wine-breath
While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.

Rowan Gillespie's statue (Is it a sculpture or a statue or both?) of Yeats in Sligo on the right.

Another poem, All Souls by Edith Wharton here and another, All Souls' Day by Hermann von Gilm here.

There is also the classic Irish play All Soul's Night by Joseph Tomelty.

But when exactly is All Soul's Night? Is it tonight or last night? I often have the same problem with Christmas Night, is it the night before or after Christmas Day. If the Day is 24 hrs then the night of each day starts at 12 midnight on that date. OK? So last night was All Soul's Night. But what about Hallowe'en? Isn't that regarded as All Soul's Night also in the sense of ghosts being abroad. Be careful out there, language is waiting to cause you trouble.

Hallowe'en

It's Hallowe'en!

There are lots of poems about Hallowe'en at Poets.org also poems about Hell, about Vampires and an article about where American poets are buried.

The site also has ideas on poetic fancy dress costumes

I think I'll go as Walt Whitman - with the butterflies as well.
(Picture right from the www.poets.org site.)

Latest issue of Revival

The latest issue of Revival the poetry journal published in Limerick was launched on 14 October during the Cuisle Poetry Festival in the famous poetry venue The White House Pub. This issue is a tribute to Limerick's Frank McCourt and the cover has an image of Frank by Una Heaton.

It contains a piece in memory of Frank McCourt by his brother Alphie and a poem by well known American poet W.S. Merwin which was read by the author at a recent memorial held in honour of Frank McCourt at Sun Valley Idaho.

Two of our Boyne Group members, Orla Fay and Tom Dredge have poems in the issue as has a member of the LitLab, Pat Devaney.

I was in the White House for the launch which was followed by a reading by that week's featured poet Maurice Riordan. Maurice was born in Lisgoold, Co Cork and lives in London and teaches on the Writing MA at Sheffield Hallam University.

This was followed by an open mic at which eighteen writers read from their work including myself. I had intended to read a poem about death but there were so many poems touching on that theme that I read one about fish and chips instead.

It was a great night of poetry which finished sometime aroung 12.30am. If you haven't been to a White House reading then you should try to get to one. It's a great experience. You can see a slideshow of the readers here - down the page to the relevant date.

More Luxembourg Sculpture - Final One

Down in the city near the centre is this sculpture which screams for attention. It is called "La Temperance" by French-born sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002). It can be found at the northern end of the Place Emile Hamilius. The sculpture was erected in 1995 when Luxembourg was European Capital of Culture.

It is a representation of Temperance, the tarot card and another version of it exists in the Tarot Garden in Tuscany, Italy which contains many of her Tarot character sculptures. She appears to be holding two joined vessels in her hands. Temperance is almost invariably depicted as a person pouring liquid from one receptacle into another. Historically, this was a standard symbol of the virtue temperance representing the dilution of wine with water.

There is a connection with the gun sculpture at the Jean Monnet building. In 1961, Niki de Saint Phalle became known around the world for her Shooting paintings. These consisted of a wooden base board on which containers of paint were laid, then covered with plaster. The painting was then raised and de Saint Phalle would shoot at it with a rifle. The bullets penetrated paint containers, which spilled their contents over the painting. She travelled around the world performing shooting sessions. She stopped making these shooting pictures in 1963 as in her own words, I had become addicted to shooting, like one becomes addicted to a drug.

Sculpture in Luxembourg

At the entrance to the Jean Monnet building in Kirchberg in Luxembourg where our conference was held last week is this sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. It is one of a series he has created and which have been situated at prominent sites and buildings across the world. More information about it here.

It's not difficult to guess that it is titled Non-Violence. It's the kind of thing that gives sculpture a bad name. Realistic it's not. If you straightened out the gun barrel it would be much longer than it should be. You may glance at it and say Great! Sculpture I can understand. But what's the point? Does it make anyone consider the question of violence or aggression? Of course not.

Not far away there's another sculpture, picture below, which is much more interesting. There's no information on or near the piece to identify it and I have failed to find anything on the internet about it but to me it's much more interesting. What is it supposed to represent? It's sculpture so it's up to you to decide.

Poetry in Luxembourg

In one of the main squares of Luxembourg city centre there is a memorial to the Luxembourg national poet, Michel Rodange (1827-1876). He was a primary teacher and later a functionary in the Public Buildings Administration. He was a poet in his leisure time.

In 1872 he published the satirical epic "Rénert oder de Fuuss am Frack an a Ma’nsgrésst" ("Rénert" or the fox in human clothing). This work, an adaption of the traditional European clever fox tale, was written in the language of the country. It was well regarded for its detailed yet mocking analysis of the character of the Luxembourg people. Like many another writer he does not appear to have been appreciated during his lifetime and it was only after his death that his work was appreciated.

The monument is a fine memorial near the city hall with a sculpture of Reynard himself on top.

As for his most famous poem I haven't been able to find an English translation anywhere on the internet.

Back from Luxembourg

One of the great things about teaching over the past decades was the opportunities for travel to other European countries to experience other educational systems afforded by the various European funded projects. I enjoyed short visits to Germany, Poland, Austria, Denmark, UK and Portugal.

I thought that was all over when I retired but I was asked to attend the Safer Internet Forum in Luxembourg last week and was delighted to go.

Twenty seven teachers (and one retired teacher!) - one from each country, took part in a teacher forum on internet safety which then fed into the general debate. It was most enjoyable to meet colleagues from other countries and see that the problems are the same everywhere. What strikes one is that in spite of overload and cut-backs teachers are still enthusiastic about their job.

The conference which was held in the European Commission Conference Centre in the Jean Monnet Building was interesting, with relevant input from a students' panel comprising two students from each country, the teachers' panel and researchers, academics, ministry of education representatives and other interested parties. The working language was English but there was simultaneous translation into a number of other languages. During boring presentations in English it is always wonderful to switch to French or German and enjoy the different flow of the language without the distraction of understanding what is being said.

We stayed near the venue on the Plateau de Kirchberg, 3 km from the centre of Luxembourg city where many of the European building are - no shopping or eating areas just high rise glass walled building. And the building is still going on. We did get a little time on the last afternoon after the conference finished to do a little sightseeing in the city centre. A typical European city but it has a long deep gorge winding through it which makes for spectacular sights.

More on Luxembourg with some pictures perhaps when I recover fully.

Luxembourg

Limerick last week, Luxembourg this week. Any place beginning with L will do when you're retired. It's a bit like coming back from retirement because I'm attending a teachers' forum and conference on Safer Internet here as the Irish teacher representative.

Forget Ryanair, LuxAir is the way to fly. Flew from London City airport on a plane with propellors, first time in a long time to do so. A great flight, a free meal, snack actually, and boiled sweets before landing. Great.

You might imagine 27 teachers talking about schools, pupils and internet safety might be dull and boring but no way! Enthusiastic teachers with all kinds of innovative ideas sharing their experiences is exciting. The general impression is how similar the experience is in all countries of the EC.

Paddy tells a story about attending a European conference in the early days of the EEC when delegations from other countries came to the hotel the Irish delegation was staying in to watch the Irish delegation eat and drink!

I always feel I should introduce myself at such a function by saying something like: "I'm from Ireland BUT I don't drink Guiness and I don't sing".

National Novel Writing Month

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH: THE LARGEST WRITING CONTEST IN THE WORLD!

No Judges. No Prizes. Winning Manuscripts Deleted. Appeal Remains a Mystery.

There are some who say writing a novel takes awesome talent, strong language skills, academic training, and years of dedication. Not true. All it really takes is a deadline – a very, very tight deadline – and a whole lot of coffee.

Welcome to National Novel Writing Month: a nonprofit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists all over the world to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. At midnight on Nov. 1, 150,000 writers from over 90 countries – poised over laptops and pads of paper, fingers itching and minds racing with plots and characters – will begin a furious adventure in fiction. By 11:59 PM on Nov. 30, tens of thousands of them will be novelists.

NaNoWriMo is the largest writing contest in the world. In 2008, over 120,000 people took part in the free challenge. There are more than 1,000 registered novelists in Ireland already this year and it’s not November yet. And while the event stresses fun and creative exploration over publication, more than 30 NaNoWriMo novelists have had their NaNo-novels published, including Sarah Gruen, whose New York Times #1 Best Seller, Water for Elephants began as a NaNoWriMo novel.

Around 18% of NaNoWriMo participants "win" every year by writing 50,000 words and validating their novels on the organization's website before midnight on Nov 30. Winners receive no prizes, and no one at NaNoWriMo ever reads the manuscripts submitted.

So if not for fame or fortune, why do people do it? "The 50,000-word challenge has a wonderful way of opening up your imagination and unleashing creative potential like nothing else," says NaNoWriMo Founder and Program Director (and ten-time NaNoWriMo winner) Chris Baty. "When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both. Also, it's a great excuse for not doing any dishes for a month."

Writing is recession-proof – all it takes is paper, pencils, and imagination!

Events for The Ireland North East Region (Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan) will take place in the D Hotel, Drogheda on the following dates, all events are free to participating writers;

· Saturday 31 October : 10am–noon – getting the group started
· Sunday 8 November : 7.30-9.30pm - writing
· Sunday 15 November : 7.30-9.30pm - writing
· Sunday 22 November : 7.30-9.30pm - writing
· Sunday 29 November : 7.30-9.30pm - writing
· Tuesday 1 December : 8pm onwards – a Thank Goodness it’s Over party

If you would like more information about National Novel Writing Month, or would like to talk to participants from your area, please visit our website at www.NaNoWriMo.org, or contact our local Municipal Liaison, Grace Tierney (Grace.tierney@ireland.com). There is also an FAQ available online.

More Good News

These are the emails that make it all worth while. Someone notices your work. But two in the same week! . . . first the Bridport shortlising and now this:

I am writing to let you know that you have been selected as a finalist for the International Aesthetica Creative Works Competition. Category: Poetry, Title of piece: Flying to Krakow was highly commended by the judges. Congratulations on this massive achievement. We had over 3000 entries this year.
A few more details:
Winners from each category will be announced just before publication.
As a finalist, you will receive a complimentary hard copy.
The Aesthetica Annual will be available from Borders nationwide on 1 December and from www.aestheticamagazine.com

Flying to Krakow was written two years ago after a visit to the Polish town. It, like Asking for Directions the Bridport shortlisted poem, had done the rounds of competitions and magazines without being noticed. It goes to show that you never know when someone will notice your work. Keep entering and keep sending out to magazines!

Then the doubts start. These were written a while ago.
Maybe my more recent work isn't as good.
Maybe I should try to imitate the stuff I was writing then.
Maybe I will never ever be even shortlisted in a competition ever again.
Maybe . . .

Another thing about Limerick

One the features of Ulick O'Connor's reading in Limerick was his reading by heart - he rarely consulted his texts which were large sheets printed on card as far as I could see - a good idea actually, you know how annoying it can be when an author is searching for a poem towards the end of his third volume.

Where was I , oh yes, reading by heart. It adds to a reading when the author can do this, I must try learning a few by heart. I remember Pat Boran challenging us at a workshop in Longford (I do get around don't I?) by asking if anyone in the group could recite one of their own poems by heart. Coughs and eyes on the ground all round. Having said that I have one or two I read often and find that I need to look at the page only a few times during the reading.

I got an email yesterday saying I was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize in the UK. Or rather had been shortlisted - the prizes have been decided and I'm not among them. Still it's great to be even shortlisted in such a popular competition. The Bridport Prize, with a £5000 1st prize for short stories and for poems, is the biggest open creative writing competition in the English language. Results will be available on the Bridport website from 22 November.

Back from Limerick

Left Limerick late last night after two very busy poetry days at the Cuisle Poetry Festival . At the official opening on Wednesday Paul Muldoon translated Cuisle as Heart Throb.

Yesterday a poetry reading by Limerick poet, Paul Sweeney, at lunchtime, a presentation by self-publishing company Original Writing and a discussion on Publishing in Times of Recession which was attended by two former US poet laureates, Donald Hall and Robert Haas.

In the evening the Stony Thursday Book was launched - I was asked to read one of my poems, so was Robert Haas. The Book is a beautiful production and I'm delighted to be included with such poets as Robert Haas, Paul Muldoon, Fleur Adcock, Macdara Woods, Nuala Ní Chonchúir and many more. Because my poem, When I Returned about Auschwitz, has an unexpected twist in the end I asked the audience not to follow it in the book as I read. I told them to close the book, reminding them that I was a retired teacher (Laughter).

The launch was followed by a reading by three poets, Ulick O'Connor, Ireland, Catherine Smith, UK and Taja Kramberger, Slovenia. Wonderful. Three contrasting poets but as is usual the connections and contrasts were a major part of the enjoyment. Ulick read well with lots of references to an Ireland we have almost forgotten - Yeats, Behan, Maud Gonne, Countess Markievicz, Sean MacBride. He even mentioned Ireland's seven centuries of oppression, a phrase I don't like and which I had thought had gone out of use, rightly.

When Taja Kramberger introduced her poems with references to her country's and her family's trauma during the last century especially during and after World War 2 made me think that for all our talk of "oppression" we had it easy during most of the last century at least.

Catherine Smith's reading was wonderful. Her poems sparkled, teased, stung and swung in unexpected dark directions. She read with an enthusiasm, confidence and self mockery which contrasted with the other two readers. Most of what she read came from her collection Lip.

Dentist now, depending on how I get on there perhaps then the Over 50s Show in the RDS and the National Stamp Exhibition also in the RDS.

The Cuisle Festival continues today and tomorrow.