Rus in Urbe Leixlip Launch

 

The second Doghouse launch last night, this time that of James Lawless's Rus in Urbe in Leixlip. I'm delighted that mine was first so I can relax at these other two. This went very well, a large enthusiastic crowd, a good launch speech by Catherine Murphy Independent TD and a very nice reading by James.

Catherine Murphy spoke of how poetry provides an alternative way of looking at ourselves in these difficult times. She congratulated James on the way he evokes a sense of place, rural and urban, and stressed the importance of this.

James read about six poems carefully chosen to reflect his life journey which began in the Liberties in Dublin and is now shared between Leixlip and west Cork. His reading of The Pincers, about his first meeting with this large metal instrument used on farms  got a great response:

It's for the bulls, he said,
handing it to me
......
I opened its fangs
and saw the black hairs.

Pictures: Top: Noel King introduces James Lawless. Right: James with Catherine Murphy TD.

James Lawless's website.

And tonight we're off to Dundalk for the launch of Barbara Smith's The Angels' Share in the Basement Gallery at 6.00 pm.