WATERFORD POETRY PRIZE 2019

I was delighted that my poem Lecture Near the Ambush Site was awarded third prize in the 2019 Waterford Poetry Prize. I went to Waterford for the presentation on 25 October which was part of the Waterford Writers Weekend/Imagine festival.

The Waterford  Poetry Prize is a little different. It is open to all writers currently living on the island of Ireland, there is no entry fee, and each entrant may submit one poem only. The first prize is €400 plus attendance at a designated writing course at the Molly KeaneWriters Retreat, Ardmore in 2019, second prize is €300 and third is €200. Prize winners also get accommodation in Waterford for the night of the presentation.

The prize has emerged from the influence of the late Waterford writer Seán Dunne whose poetry still continues to inspire.

This year’s judge was Grace Wells who spoke at the presentation about the judging process and the winning poems. I’ve rarely heard more comprehensive and insightful remarks by the judge of a poetry competition. It was clear that Grace spent time with the poems and appreciated the craft and intent of the poet in each case.

The three prize winning poems are quite different in style, form and theme. First prize went to Noel Howley for his poem, Clare Wedding Lore. This has a great opening: Driving West along the old road, into a poem/you said; and then records eight saying with references to time, the weather, relationships, life and death. In one section he imagines a wonderful alliance of Poseidon and the Child of Prague. The poem ends with another great line: At the End of the Land we walked backwards all the way home.

Second prize went to Molly Twomey for her poem, Cassandra. This is a most impressive poem about the current climate crisis, titled for the Trojan prophetess who could foretell the future but nobody would believe her prophecies. What is most impressive is that in twelve lines she creates an apocalyptic vision in the language of pastoral, rural poetry. Gannets will break their necks,/ diving for sardines that no longer exist. She shows, doesn’t preach in spite of using the word preach in the poem.

My own poem, Lecture Near the Ambush Site, is a reflection on writing history about the war of independence period and dealing with tragic incidents, the long lasting effects of which are usually skipped over. How many families grieved for so long over those killed on all sides in that period? Grace Wells said that the poem’s attempt to mix the present and the past was successful and she liked the last line especially: I stopped, could say no more.

Thanks to the judge, Grace Wells, the Waterford Arts Officer, Margaret Organ, and all concerned with the competition and the Waterford Writers Weekend. It was a most enjoyable and worthwhile visit.

Photo Above: Prizewinners Molly, Noel and myself in the front with the Mayor of Waterford. Grace Wells and Arts Officer Margaret Organ behind.

Writing Home Anthology

I've just got a copy of this new anthology from Dedalus Press, selected and edited by Pat Boran  and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, from an open call which drew hundreds of submissions. Contributors hail from all over the world and most now live in Ireland.

I love the sense of unease which surrounds the volume, the awkwardness as regards titles and themes reflected in its frequent use of quotation marks. The subtitle is The 'New Irish' Poets and the blurb on the website says "Poets from the ‘new Irish communities’, the ‘hyphenated Irish’, the Irish of mixed cultural, linguistic or ethnic origins, are all represented"

Pat Boran in his editorial deals with this, saying sensibly "a little unease is not unusual (or entirely useless) at the start of a journey". He deals especially with the general theme of the anthology, 'home'. Those of us who are internal migrants, if that is the correct term, know exactly how complicated the term 'home' can be.

The fifty poets in this anthology are generally polished practitioners and have histories of publication behind them. The wide range of styles and approaches to the general theme makes it a most entertaining read. The poets come from all over the world, some have English as their native language, others are writing in a second language, only a few poems included are translations.

I like the way the anthology is put together. White space is cut down, poems do not have pages to themselves, poems start at the bottom of pages and continue over, all giving the impression of trying to fit in as many as possible. I also like the fact that some poets have one poem while others have more - I think nine is the record - giving the impression that the poem's the thing.

It's difficult to pick out individual poets but I loved the poems by Polina Cosgrove - "the Russian girl with an Irish surname/ Who was a Russian girl with a Jewish surname/ Who was a Russian girl with a Russian surname/ Who once spent nine months in the belly of/ An Armenian girl with a Russian surname". I especially like Polina's use of repetition in "Say Yes" and "My Name Is".

I like the fact that many of the poems are a little less than positive about the new home Ireland. For instance Bogusia Wardein, a frequent visitor to Ireland, who regards Galway as her "literary home" can still be a sharp critic. Her "From the West Coast" is a sad and humourous look at the Irish from the outsider's eye. "People ask me how I am but don't wait for the answer" "After drinking they mark their territories by spewing here and there". "People call towers castles, hills mountains, and greens parks".

Her "I consider My Home Planet" makes comparisons between a perfect place and Ireland: "For fourthly they say what they mean/ For fifthly they mean what they say" though there is more than a hint that this perfection might actually be less interesting.

Art Ó Súilleabháin, a former work colleague of mine, brought up in Boston, is also here with two poems dealing with outsiders. Art mentions being published in our magazine, Boyne Berries, in his bio which is nice. As editor of Boyne Berries I published poems by another contributor Landa Wo, way back in issues 2 and 4.

All in all a most interesting read, well worth a read. More details on the website.

Boyne Berries and Kintsugi

According to Wikipedia "Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise."

It has become a fashionable term, taken up by some self-help and popular psychology gurus but the basic idea is as old as the hills and worldwide. I remember when you could buy pot menders to fix metal containers.

Boyne Berries 26 will be launched on Thursday, 24th October at 8 pm in The Castle Arch Hotel, Trim. Co Meath and the cover has a great image by Rory O'Sullivan on the topic. The launch will be performed by poet Jean O'Brien who I understand has a poem on Kintsugi included.

A special feature of the issue is the inclusion of the poems shortlisted for Trim Poetry Competition 2019. Contributors to Boyne Berries 26 will read on the night. All welcome. Tea and coffee served.

I wrote a poem called Kintsugi in response to a prompt from Sophie in our online workshop in Spring 2017. It was then published in the anthology Poems to Keep edited by Janice Dempsey in 2017.

Kintsugi 

Her scribbled prescription was a pledge
not of cure but easement,
like that cardboard wedge
under our dining room table
or the taped glasses of the shopkeeper
who dished out aspirin in Coolaney.

Waiting in the pharmacy I considered
mother’s dentures, grandad’s truss,
the wooden hand great grandfather wore,
all the crucial repairs we carry with us,
sticking plasters on our cracks
patches on our punctures, our fractures
held together by judicious mending,
golden joinery, the beauty in broken things.

Michael Farry

SiarScéal Festival 2019

SiarScéal is a historical, literary, bilingual festival hosted annually and inspired by the culture and heritage of County Roscommon and the west in general, held annually in the library in Roscommon town. The festival includes the annual Hanna Greally Literary Awards, and this year I was lucky enough to be the overall winner with my poem The Burma Road Blues, about the now disused Collooney - Claremorris railway line.

On the Friday evening the festival featured the launch of the Beneath Western Skies exhibition, which featured poetry from a number of primary schools including Bunnanaddan NS in Sligo and photography and poetry by Anni Wilton Jones. This exhibition is going on tour to local libraries.

On Saturday, 12 October I attended the prize-giving and readings. It was great to see the good attendance, meet writers from all over the country and see the enthusiasm the organizers bring to the event. Well done to Gwen McNamara Bond and all involved.

After the official opening by the leas-cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, adjudicator Faye Boland announced the results. Faye, pictured below, is the author of the poetry collection, Peripheral, and she was overall winner at the Hanna Greally International Literary Awards in 2017. She spoke with great insight about my poem and recalled a grandfather who had similar experiences and empathy with railway lines.

It was great to hear many of the other winning and listed pieces, prose and poetry and also to see that County Sligo was well represented by Going Back by Anne McManus and Borrowed Time by Maureen Harkin. Well done also to Louise G Cole, joint winner in the story section.

One of the children's poems on display.

The Bangor Literary Journal

The Bangor Literary Journal is a bimonthly online literary journal which showcases outstanding poetry, flash fiction and artwork from established and emerging writers and artists.  The journal is run by Amy Louise Wyatt and Paul Daniel Rafferty in Bangor, Co. Down.

The first online issue launched in February 2018 and the most recent one has just been made available online. This is issue 10 and is the Aspects Festival 2019 issue, coinciding with that festival and includes all the shortlisted and winning poems from The Seventh Annual Bangor Poetry Competition, including this year’s winner, Gaynor Kane’s poem ‘Firelighting’. 

The issue also has interviews with award winning poet Ross Thompson, renowned Bangor writer Lesley Allen and local historian Ian Wilson plus the usual selection of exceptional poetry, flash fiction, art and photography.

Amy and Daniel seem tireless in their organisational ability and their innovative competitions based in their unique and atmospheric gallery in Bangor. I've visited a couple of times, train to Belfast, train to Bangor, and enjoyed both visits. I had a shortlisted poem/artwork hanging in the gallery last year and a poem shortlisted again this year. I'm delighted to have the poem included in this issue.

There's also a great bookshop in Bangor, Bookends, not far from the train station.

Download the latest Bangor Literary Journal for free here.

Bailieborough Poetry Competition 2019 Results

The results of the Bailieborough Poetry Festival Competition 2019. 

The judge was Cavan Writer-in-Residence, Anthony J Quinn.

Winner: Christopher M James - ‘Janus’.
Runners Up: Giles Newington - ‘Dynamic Me’
                      John D Kelly - ‘The Missing Piece’

Congratulations to the winner and runners up and to the following who made the shortlist:
Orla Fay - ‘The Member of the Wedding.
Ruth Quinlan - ‘Eczema Herpeticum in The Limerick Regional’.
Eugene Platt - ‘Thank You Note to my New Wife’s Late Husband’.
Anne Tannam - ‘I’ll admit to’.
Kate Ennals - ‘Drafting a Poem in my Mother’s Old Diary’.

The announcement and presentation in Bailieborough Library on Saturday was a most enjoyable event. 

Thanks to those shortlisted poets who attended and read. Thanks also to the winner Christopher James who, though in Thailand, was able to read his poem for us through the wonders of modern technology.