North West Words Poetry Reading

Last Thursday night's poetry reading in Café Blend, Letterkenny was one of the most enjoyable readings I've been at for some time. This North West Words Arts Night is a monthly event.

The venue is great, a nice size, a raised area for the performers, plenty of
Christmas decorations, lovely food, a sound system which worked perfectly, a most welcoming and efficient organising committee and a large and really lovely audience.

I followed Eoin, a brilliant saxophonist, who performs under the name Bob Bond and appeared on the recent Late Late Toy Show and I was followed by singers and musicians, Claire and Niamh Cuffe, also a lot younger than me so I felt under pressure to represent the talent of the more elderly.

I read for about twenty minutes, a selection of older poems and some new ones. The audience was great, reacting well to the humour and to the sadness which featured in the poems. I read my poem for my late sister, Ann, who once worked in Letterkenny as a telephonist. I also read a very recent one about my just arrived Australian grandson.

I met a number of writers we had included in Boyne Berries and some I have met at prize givings, readings and festivals here and there in the country. I got good feedback on my reading and sold a large number of Asking for Directions. Thanks Letterkenny!

The open mic was most enjoyable. We had a very funny version of a well known poem re-titled The Fright before Christmas and we ended with a Robert Frost poem, Stopping by Woods, read by a relation of the Georgian poet Lascelles Abercrombie who was a friend of Frost.

Letterkenny is a town well worth a visit. It has a great little second-hand bookshop called Universal Books and the Catholic Cathedral is a fine building designed by the same architect who designed Trim church, William Hague. The altars in both churches are also by the Pearses.

I've taken the composite picture above from the North West Word Facebook page. I'm in the background of the middle top picture. Thanks again to all for the great welcome and hospitality.