Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Boyne Writers - Trim Poetry Festival 2021
A reading by members of Boyne Writers at this years virtual Trim Poetry Festival - poetry, prose, a letter and poetry videos.
More from the festival here: Trim Poetry Festival 2021
Friday, March 12, 2021
Matt & Michael's Lockdown. No 50
This is the 50th of our weekly videos of poetry and song produced in the first instance for a Trim Nursing Home we were unable to visit during this pandemic but are enjoyed elsewhere as well. Most of the 50 are available on our YouTube channel: Matt & Michael Lockdown.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
New Poetry Book: Heart of Goodness by Carolyne Van Der Meer
This year marks the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) the French-born nun who emigrated to Canada where she established a school to educate young girls, the poor, and children of First Nations. She founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal, one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic Church. She was canonized in 1982, becoming Canada’s first female saint.
To mark the anniversary Guernica Editions have just published HEART OF GOODNESS - The Life of Marguerite Bourgeoys in 30 Poems by Montreal poet Carolyne Van Der Meer.
This bilingual book pays homage to this pioneering woman in a series of poems which explore Marguerite’s inner feelings at various stages in her life. The style is direct and contemporary, the short succinct lines giving a freshness and immediacy to the life and the thoughts of the pioneer as she faced the successes and the difficulties of her chosen mission.
A lesser writer would get lost in the complexity of such an important life but Van Der Meer avoids this by focusing on important stages in the life and by the use of telling details and simple direct statements as, for instance, the first lines of the first poem:
These trimmings
and jewels
fine fabrics
soft leather
leave me empty
Very soon Marguerite has decided on her vocation, the furthering of women’s education, and again this is expressed in a few striking concise lines:
in this man’s
world
they are at a
deficit
I will help them
become equals
God willing
The perils and difficulties of Marguerite’s first voyage to Canada are likewise conveyed by the use of a few stark details:
with no priest
aboard
I found myself
ministering last
rites eight times
bodies we left
to sea graves
three months of
God challenging us.
The poet shares not only the positive and hopeful moments of Marguerite’s life but also the uncertainties, the heartbreaks, the disappointments and her continual summoning of the courage to face all of these. All this is conveyed in simple language, pared to the essential as when her best friend and helper, Jeanne, dies Van Der Meer has Marguerite say:
I feel
a deep
and blazing
hole
and
when she worries if her own weaknesses have contributed to the order’s
difficulties:
have I been slipshod
unmindful
has my desire to
inspire
made me less a
leader
less discerning
should I have
been
a firmer guide
Carolyne
Van Der Meer’s achievement in these poems is to capture the essence of this
remarkable seventeenth century woman, humble but fiercely determined. She
allows us a glimpse into Marguerite Bourgeoys’s soul, appreciate her deep
spirituality and her practicality in thirty intricately crafted poems which,
pared-down and polished, shine like their subject with sincerity, originality
and fidelity to essential truths.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Poetry Ireland Day 2020 - Boyne Berries: The Covid Issue
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Michael Farry Reads "Hairdo".
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Monday, March 9, 2020
"Troubles" launch postponed.
Please note that due to the current health crisis the launch of "Troubles" has been postponed as has Trim Poetry Festival.
You can purchase a copy by using the PayPal button on the right.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Troubles Cover
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Trim Poetry Competition Shortlist 2020
The standard was very high and judging difficult. Finally the two judges, Orla Fay and Michael Farry, have announced the shortlist.
These poems will be included in Boyne Berries 27 to be launched on 13 March 2020 at Trim Poetry Festival and the winner and two runners-up will be announced the following evening.
SHORTLIST (in alphabetical order)
Bearing the Weight of Light by Matt Hohner, USA.
Bird's Eye View by Catherine Conlon, Kildare.
In the Darkroom by John D Kelly, Fermanagh.
Light Rail by David Butler, Wicklow.
Little Snowdrops by Martin Sykes, Mayo.
Mizpah Ring, Man's, circa 1902 by Maria Isakova Bennett, UK.
Nature Lesson by Marian Brannigan, Louth.
Postcard from Symi by Patrick Lodge, UK.
Talking in Pictures by Karen O'Connor, Kerry.
Friday, February 14, 2020
CATHAL BUI POETRY COMPETITION
Cathal Buí Hedge School – Belcoo, Co Fermanagh
PRIZES: 1st £100: 2nd £60: 3rd £40. Plus a trophy
Winners announced at Cathalbui Hedge School, Healthy Living Centre (beside the petrol station) Belcoo at 8pm on 12 July 2020
Entry is free – Closing date: 17 March 2020
Send entry to: belcoopoet@gmail.com
RULES
1 Include a name and a land address or country.
2 Place the poem in the body of the email – not an attachment.
3 The judges’ decision is final
4 Winners must be present on 12 July or nominate a delegate to receive the prize
5 State if you don’t want your entry published in the annual anthology.
6 REVISIONS OR NAME CHANGES - NOT ALLOWED
Timetable for 12 July Hedge school
3pm: Joyce symposium: Featuring - The Dead, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.
8pm: Competition prizes, judges’ comments and readings.
Poetry readings with Noel Monahan, Michael Farry and other poets.