1916 Poetry

So how did the writing exercise go? I hear you ask.
you know the one where we were asked to use the first line of the Proclamation as an inspiration.

It went very well actually with everyone present having attempted it and each effort different. There were one or two which contrasted the idealism of the 1916 leaders with the state we've got ourselves and the country into. One had the lovely image of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, whose funeral was an important step on the way to the Rising, stirring in his grave and another imagined a youth pausing at the GPO before getting a bus for the airport and emigration. Nothing wrong with being preachy so long as it's well done I always say.

One used the "dead generations" reference to tell us a little about an ancestor leaving us to make the possible connections and another remembered being in the dock at Kilmainham with other Irishmen and Irishwomen on a charge of no lights on the bikes.

Great stuff. Most admitted to having found it difficult and challenging and felt that the efforts needed just a bit more work.

Any mine? Well I took the historical look and reported on the races at Fairyhouse that Easter Monday as well as a few other things. Do you know who won the Irish Grand National in 1916? One stanza of my poem was:


2.40. Irish Grand National. 200 Sovereigns. Three Miles.

1. All Sorts 4/1
2. Punch 5/1
3. Ruddygore 3/1