All-Ireland Poetry Day - Meath

Boyne Berries launched, now for All-Ireland Poetry Day!

All-Ireland Poetry Day 3 October 2013

‘OUR MOST LOVELY MEATH’ - A Tribute to the Poets of Meath

12 noon:   Laracor Graveyard  F.R. Higgins.

1pm    St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trim  Jonathan Swift.

4pm    Ledwidge Museum, Slane   Francis Ledwidge.

5pm    O’Reilly Memorial, Dowth  John Boyle O’Reilly.

Boyne Writers Group, Trim, are marking All-Ireland Poetry Day on Thursday 3 October  by holding a series of short readings celebrating the poetic heritage of Meath at places associated with well-known Meath poets. Two of the poets are Meath-born and two others spent many years in the county. At each venue there will be readings from the works of the featured poets.

People are invited to attend at any or all of the venues, to listen to the poetry, to join in by reading their own favourite poems either by the featured poets or by any other poet irrespective of county or country of origin.

At 12 noon they will read at the grave of F.R. Higgins in Laracor Graveyard. Higgins was a native of Foxford, Co. Mayo but spend much time around Trim. He served on the board of the Abbey Theatre from 1935 until his death in 1941. His Father and son: Selected Poems has recently been published by Arlen House.

Then on to Trim where at 1pm they will celebrate the poetry of another “blow-in” to Meath, Jonathan Swift, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Loman Street. Though more famous for his satiric prose Swift also was a prolific poet and his poetry often has the same sharp wit.

At 4pm there will be a reading in the Ledwidge Museum, Slane to remember the most famous Meath poet, Francis Ledwidge. Sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he had not reached the age of 30 when he was killed in action at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.

Finally the group will congregate at the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial, Dowth at 5pm to read some of the poems of the Dowth born poet, journalist and fiction writer. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which He was transported to Western Australia as a Fenian but escaped to the United States, where he became editor of the Boston Pilot newspaper.