The Hawk's Rock 2

More pictures from Saturday's event in Sligo.

Me admiring my Hawk's Rock chapbook at the shed gallery with the Hawk's Rock in the background.

One of Conor Gallagher's paintings of the rock. This picture doesn't do justice to the painting's bright vibrant colours. Conor used a black and white version of this for the chapbook cover.

The musicians play The Hungry Rock.
The view from the summit of the rock back towards the shed gallery.

There is a photograph of the rock from the road, the usual viewpoint and the one which Conor's paintings reflect, on this page.

The Hawk's Rock

Very enjoyable and special event at the Hawk's Rock, Coolaney, Sligo yesterday. I was delighted to be asked to play a part in Conor Gallagher's exhibition of his paintings of the rock, an impressive steep outcrop on the southern side of the Ox Mountains. This place and Tullaghan Well nearby gave Yeats the title of his play At the Hawk's Well.

Conor performed miracles, got Coillte to clear a path to the top of the Rock allowing the visitors to climb and enjoy the view - all of south Sligo and Benbulben, Sligo Bay and the Donegal mountains to the north. He had a hut built near the Rock in which he exhibited his paintings, asked me to speak of the history of the area and read some poetry and had a couple of musicians there who played the Dervish tune The Hungry Rock. He made my collection of six poems on the area into a very attractive chapbook which we gave out to the audience.

A good crowd made up I think of some from Sligo town and some locals enjoyed the event. I got some compliments on the poetry and and the history as well as some additions to the stories associated with the area. The weather was perfect, a calm clear autumn day and the mountain was dry underfoot. Conor's gallery at the Hawk's Rock is open again today 2pm - 5pm and he will have more on the exhibition on his website later.

Pictures. Top: Conor Gallagher welcoming everybody. Below: Me pointing out the local landmarks.
More tomorrow.

All Ireland Poetry Day - Meath, Cavan events

All Ireland Poetry Day takes place on Thursday 7th October and events will take place in most if not all counties of Ireland. Boyne Writers Group have organised a reading in St Patrick's Cathedral, Loman Street, Trim at 12 noon and one in the Resource Centre, Kells at 5pm. All are welcome to come along and read a favourite poem, one of your own poems or just listen. Picture above is of Frank Murphy reading in the Cathedral last year. A wonderful venue!

LitLab, of which I am also a member, are reading at the Chapter 1 Cafe at 8pm that evening and we are also having a reading in Virginia but the time has not been finalised yet.

I'm off to the Hawk's Rock to day to talk (briefly) about history, read a few poems, look at Conor Gallagher's art and admire the wonderful Ox Mountain scenery.

Dromineer Poetry Competition

I had given up on Dromineer because I heard last week who had won the competition. Today I got an email saying that "Dave Lordan, the judge of the Poetry Competition at the 2010 Dromineer Literary Festival, has selected the following works for special merit" and two of my entries were included. I'm pleased about that - nice to be noticed. I'll probably go down for the presentations and stay for the Dave Lordan workshop the next morning.

I was talking or emailing two people recently about choosing poems to enter based on who the judge was and I have to admit that I chose my Dromineer entry with Dave in mind. however the one I though would really catch his attention isn't in the merit list. Ah well.

We also had a discussion recently about putting titles on poems to catch the judges attention. Just as a matter of interest this is the list of Dromineer special merit titles. What do you think? By the way can you guess which two are mine?

Sandymount Strand 111 (vigil)
Between the spaces of the song the song sang
Twilight
The Hour
Fort Madison
Skins and all
Flood
British Museum revisited again
The poet that a poet not I declenched and a bird attracted
What I'll need for the lecture
Ennui

Poetry Magazine - A Great Review

I thought about not renewing my subscription to the American magazine Poetry but I've just got the September issue and I'm enjoying it so much I may even send the money. I read the reviews and the comment section first then the poetry.

I mentioned here recently a wonderfully opinionated review in Poetry Ireland Review and there's something similar in the issue of Poetry in a review of a new collection by Robert Hass a Pulitzer Prize winning American poet who served as Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 1995 to 1997.

The review by Michael Robbins of The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems, by Robert Hass has a iconoclastic tone, unafraid to criticise Hass and have a few swipes at other pillars of the American poetry on the way. It's not a negative review, he does praise where he considers praise is due.

A quote:

Like Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and Sharon Olds—in their different ways—Hass has made a career out of flattering middlebrow sensibilities with cheap mystery. Unlike those poets, Hass has real talent. The Apple Trees at Olema is a frustrating blend of banality and brilliance.

He quotes Hass:

On the oak table
filets of sole
stewing in the juice of tangerines,
slices of green pepper
on a bone-white dish.

—From “Song”

and says:

This isn’t poetry, it’s a list of stuff in Hass’s kitchen.

Great stuff indeed.

Cyclamen Coum

A fine day in autumn - time to tidy up the garden. I'm afraid too many plants have been given free rein in my garden. It's time for some savage cutting back. I'm inclined to let plants have their own way and this sometimes is to the detriment of the smaller more delicate ones.

When I started to clear away foliage this week I found these - two clumps of Cyclamen Coum which I had forgotten about. No idea when I planted them but they have survived neglect and provide welcome colour at this time of year. Probably need to be moved a little towards the edge.

Tom Conaty Poetry Launch

Thursday 23rd September 2010: AN EXHALATION OF STARLINGS, poetry by Tom Conaty published by Doghouse Books, Tralee, will be launched by Seamus Cashman at 6.30pm at the Damer Hall, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Everyone welcome.

Friday 24th September 2010: The same collection will have its Cavan launch at The Courthouse, Cavan Town, Co. Cavan, where Cavan/Longford poet Noel Monahan will do the honours at 8pm. Everyone welcome.

An Exaltation of Starlings, Tom Conaty's first collection of poetry binds together earth and water, darkness and light, joy and bewilderment. It is a delightful regeneration of the natural forces in all of us. A strong and memorable collection. - Noel Monahan

Emer Davis Poetry Launch

On Wednesday 22.09.2010 the Viaduct Bards presents the launch of Kill Your Television - Episode One: Poems by Emer Davis. Emer will read some poems from the book with an introduction by Anne Marie Buckley and music from Sorcha Duggan. Venue: Grogan's Bar on South William St, Dublin 2. Time: 7pm. Email: emerdavis@hotmail.com

Emer and the Viaduct Bards organising readings from local emerging and established poets and writers on the last Wednesday each month at the Drogheda Arts Centre cafe/bar between 7.30-9.30pm. Sean Nos Singing Session on afterwards at 9.30pm. A group from Boyne Writers are featured on the 27 October. Emer will be reading from her new collection at the Boyne Readings and Open Mic in Trim on 21 October.

The Hawk's Rock Exhibition

You are invited to the opening of The Hawk's Rock, an exhibition of paintings by Conor Gallagher at the Kinnagrelly Forest Road, Coolaney, County Sligo. Opening at 2.30pm on Saturday Sept 25 with Special Guest Michael Farry. Gallery open Saturday 25 and Sunday 26, 2-5pm.

The Hawk’s Rock drawings are on view at The Model Studios, Sligo on Friday Sept 24 from 6-9pm as part of Sligo Culture Night. For more information email: info@conorgallagher.com

A special bus is leaving from Sligo bus station on Saturday Sept 25 at 2pm returning at 4.30pm fare €3 return. Click here to see map and the invitation online (pdf).

My involvement came about when Conor asked me, as a local historian, to contribute some history. I mentioned I had written a series of poems on the area so I'll combine history and poetry on the day.

Conor, a graphic designer and fine artist from Sligo, did a similar project last year at Dooney Wood, Sligo for Culture Night which appears to have been a great success. Full details are on his website.

Graiguenamanagh 'Town of Books' Festival

My kind of town - a town of books. I was tempted to go to Graiguenamanagh
but

• I have enough books to be going on with
• What about all those books upstairs I have still to read
• It's a long journey
• I was working this week - suit and tie - and need a quiet weekend at home

Still . . . .

Graiguenamanagh Tourism are pleased to announce the 8th Annual Graiguenamanagh 'Town of Books' Festival, which will take place in Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny, on Friday 17th, Saturday 18th, and Sunday 19th September 2010. For one weekend in September Graiguenamanagh will be transformed literally (no pun intended) into a ‘Town of Books’.

Whether you are looking for a special book, out of date and out of print, first edition or author signed, or whether you are looking for bargain books at great prices, then Graiguenamanagh ‘Town of books’ is a must for you.

And this is only the beginning. The establishment of this festival has resulted in a permanent antiquarian bookmarket being established in Graigue, and more bookshops are being planned for the future. As well as all that, the weekend will feature lots of music and entertainment and a brilliant food and craft market on the Sunday.

Metropolis in the Irish Film Institute

I went to see Metropolis this week in the Irish Film Institute. Made in Germany in 1927, directed by Fritz Lang this is one of the high points of what we call "silent movies". It's silent only in that there is no dialogue. The soundtrack is a new recording of the original score which is wonderful. This is a restored version of the film with newly discovered material added.

If you think silent movies mean only silly cops running madly around or a poor tramp trying to win the girl then go and see this. Great sets, great special effects, over 30,000 extras and a dark vision of the modern world. It has elements of Soviet revolutionary films (I've never seen so many flights of stairs in a film and crowds of almost-liberated workers rushing up and down) the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tim Burton's Gotham City, a mad scientist and an evil robot. And there is a tender love story as well.

Metropolis was the grandest, most spellbinding spectacle of 1920s silent European cinema and is still worth seeing. It's long though but after the first hour you just get caught up in the mad rush, the implausible storylines and the brilliant imagery and imagination.

Reviews here and here and here. You can see some of it on Youtube but it's not the same. Needs to be seen on the large screen.

Tom MacIntyre Literary Weekend

Tom MacIntyre Literary Weekend Sept 24th to 26th. Bailieborough, Co Cavan.

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS (Free admission to all events)

FRIDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER
Official Launch by Myles Dungan RTE. 8.00 PM Market House (Bailieborough Library )
Followed by: • Lecture by Marie Kelly and by Patrick Mason
10.30PM Jazz Night with THE JAZZ REVIVAL BAND Giles’ Bar, Barrack Street, Bailieborough

SATURDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER
12.30 PM Walking Tour of Bailieborough with local historian Eugene Markey

2.00 PM
Livin Dred Theatre Company. A Rehearsed Reading.with leading pofessional actors.
Good Evening Mr. Collins by Tom MacIntyre.Directed by Padraic McIntyre.VENUE: Bailieborough Courthouse.

8.00 PM – MAIN EVENT Reading by Tom MacIntyre. Followed by a Public Interview – ‘Tom MacIntyre In Conversation with Michael Harding’
VENUE: Bailieborough Courthouse.

10.30PM
Music: Antoine MacGabhainn & Friends. VENUE: Fox’s Bar, Main St. Bailieborough

SUNDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER

12.30 PM Walking Tour of Bailieborough with local historian Phil Tierney

2.00 PM
Livin Dred Theatre Company Rehearsed Reading with leading professional actors
What Happened Bridgie Cleary by Tom MacIntyre. Directed by Padraic McIntyre.VENUE: Courthouse.

4.00 PM
Book Launch The Theatre of Tom MacIntyre: 'Strays from the Ether', edited by Marie Kelly and Bernadette Sweeney -
Introduction by Noel Monahan.Readings by contributors. VENUE: The Bailie Hotel

FROM SEPT 14th to SEPT 28th THE ABBEY THEATRE will hold an EXHIBITION on Tom MacIntyre in Bailieborough Library

Further information: www.bailieborough.com or by phoning (087)2626109

Readers and Writers Day - Navan Library

Meath County Library Services are holding a Readers and Writers Day on this day week, Wednesday 22nd September from 9.30am – 5pm in Navan Library.

This is a free event for all borrowers to hear from authors such as John Boyne, Claire Kilroy, Tom French, Kevin Power, Sarah Webb, Roisín Meaney and Ciara Geraghty.

Sessions include What's Happening in Irish Publishing Today; From Blyton to Landy - Changed in popular children's fiction over the Years; The Cinderella Story - The Growth of Irish Women's Fiction.

Book at Navan Library on 046 9021134.

Fiona Banner - Harrier and Jaguar

Photographs from Fiona Banner's current exhibition or installation in the Tate Britain from my recent visit to London. A remarkable experience to see these two once powerful war machines, a Harrier and a Jaguar, lifeless and helpless, one suspended like a turkey waiting to be plucked and the other stretched as on a slab.

The artist, who is new to me, is interested in fighter planes and has used models and drawings to create art. This time she used two decommissioned planes which had to be taken asunder to be taken into the gallery.

Her website has an interview about the project.

Results of The Black Diamond Poetry Prize

The Black Diamond Poetry Prize in association with Castlecomer Writers’ and Arts Festival 2010. Adjudicator: Grace Wells

Results
1st : Three Fears Carmel Cummins, Inistioge, Co.Kilkenny
2nd: Frida Kahlo Visits Ballinasloe Nuala Ní Chonchuir, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
2nd: White Fences Make Good Neighbours Eileen Casey, Tallaght, Dublin

Winner of Mealy’s Rare Books Prize: Librarian Michael Herron, Dromod, Co.Leitrim

Highly Commended [arranged in random order]

H3 Michael Herron, Dromod, Co. Leitrim
Waiting For Judy Mary O’Gorman, Clonmel, Co.Tipperary
The Road To Narnia Karen O’Connor, Tralee, Co.Kerry
Honey From The Rock Breda Joy, Killarney, Co.Kerry
Marta Becket At The Amargosa Opera House Peter Goulding, Castaheany, Dublin
one mood another mood Darren Caffrey, Piltown, Co.Kilkenny
Advice From A Cat Margaret O’Brien, Carrick-on-Suir, Co.Tipperary
Heavy Concept Kevin Dowling, Freshford, Co.Kilkenny
Salmon Leap Mary O’Byrne, Larchfield, Kilkenny
The Pools Of Light Poem Kevin Connelly, Kells Road, Kilkenny.

Well done to all mentioned above. Second prizewinner Nuala Ní Chonchuir has had a very good weekend having got two excellent reviews for her novel You in Saturday's newspapers. Congratulations to blogger Stammering Poet also. It's been a very good year for him.

Prize-giving for Black Diamond Poetry Competition will be held on Saturday, September 25 at 10:00 am at Discovery Park, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.

Great titles to all those poems. Hmmm maybe that's where I went wrong!

Autumn Flowers

The autumn flowers have survived the recent rains well. The Rudbeckia and the Japanese Anemone are still bright though the Gladioli have been knocked about a bit. Some have fallen, some just bent a bit. I forget whether I planted the Gladioli this year or whether they are some that survived from last year. Either way they provide some vertical colour at this time of year.

The other two have been in the garden for some years now, need very little care and just expand each year. Ideal for my garden though they probably need to be curtailed a bit.

Blogging Award

I've got this award from very versatile blogger Niamh, thank you!

I have to list seven things about myself. Here goes.

1. I was born in the first half of the last century of the last millenium and go to Mass every Sunday.
2. I have written many poems about my grandparents. Well only three of them actually. (Three grandparents not three poems - more than three poems.)
3. Nuala O'Faolain read a poem of mine on Radio Éireann in 1969 or early 1970. I didn't get any money for it and no you can't see it, I don't have it any more. I didn't write any more for 34 years.
4. I think Dundrum Shopping Centre is the worst of its kind. Compared to it Blanchardstown is Paradise, Liffey Valley Purgatory.
5. Rex Ingram is my favourite movie director at the moment, Lillian Gish (or maybe Alice Terry) my favourite actress.
6. My favourite painting is Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere or else anything by Jack B Yeats.
7. My favourite poem is Dante's The Divine Comedy or maybe How My Interest in Polish Poetry was Aroused by myself.

Bradshaw Books Poetry Launch

After spending all day reading the Sligo Independent for 1912 in the National Library I headed to the Damer Hall for the launch of the two books of poetry by Bradshaw Books. What Joseph Woods from Poetry Ireland called "a technical hitch" - the fact that no poetry books had actually arrived held up proceedings for a little while and gave an opportunity of saying hello to people I knew or had met at prize-givings or had published in Boyne Berries.

A full audience and the readings and launches were well worth the wait. Poet Maurice Harmon launched Roderick Ford's second collection The Green Crown. I met Roderick at a Francis Ledwidge prize giving in Inchicore a couple of year ago when he won and I was commended.

Roderick has a speech impediment and likes to play a tape of himself reading rather than read live. He does however introduce each poem and this worked very well. He read seven poems.

His poems are a fascinating mixture of the commonplace and the fantastic, often starting in traditional lyric style but moving into fantasy, dreams or nightmares. The figure of Christ appears in many of these but always in a form imagined afresh by the poet. There is something unsettling about them a kind of darkness waiting in the next line effect.

Shirley McLure's collection Who's Counting? was launched by writer Katie Donovan. Shirley has been published in Boyne Berries and I met her at the Kavanagh prize giving, she was joint second, I was joint third. Her poems are humorous, wise and subtle comments and accounts of human relationships, love, desire, death and breast cancer. The title poem is on her website.

They are full of double entendres and wit and a perfect riposte to the review I quoted from a couple of days ago from Poetry Ireland Review. It is possible to write about these things- love affairs, deaths of relations etc again and again so long as you make it new. This is what Shirley McLure and indeed Roderick Ford do so well.

And the Sligo Independent 1912? Fascinating reading, everyone should have to read an old newspaper once a year.

Poetry Launch

Poetry Ireland in association with Bradshaw Books presents the launch of The Green Crown by Roderick Ford and Who’s Counting by Shirley McClure in the Damer Hall, 112 St Stephen’s Green West, Dublin 2 tonight, Thursday, at 6.30pm.

Shirley McClure won a joint second prize in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry competition last year and was highly commended in the iYeats International Poetry Competition this year.

Roderick Ford has won both Listowel poetry prizes and the Frances Ledwidge Award. His collection The Shoreline of Falling was shortlisted for a Glen Dimplex First Book Award. The Green Crown is his second collection.

Poet Katie Donovan will officially launch the volumes. Admission free.

Poetry Ireland Review 101

"The feminist movement in Ireland opened doors to publishing for women in an immense way but the opportunity presented was lost in a welter of bad poetry, an uncritical acceptance of anything written by a woman and a fierce resistance to any reviewer who declared (particularly if the reviewer was male) than some work was not up to much . . . What we are left with, sadly, is a welter of 'chick-lit' novels and a sad passion for poems that deal with broken love-affairs and child-birth and deceased grandparents and myths about mermaids and women-who-dance-with-seals."

The latest issue of Poetry Ireland Review has a review by writer Fred Johnston of five recent poetry books which he uses to write a wonderfully opinionated piece in which he takes side swipes at many targets in the world of Irish poetry and publishing. The above quotation from the review is a good example.

(Memo to self: Write no more poems about deceased grandparents.)

It's an interesting issue for other reasons also. There's an interesting article by Tom Duddy in defence of Seamus Heaney and an edited version of a talk given by Belinda McKeon at Poetry Now 2010. A selection of the poems she refers to are printed in the magazine. The last poem in the magazine, by Máiríde Woods, is an hilarious riposte to the much discussed and criticised essay in Poetry Ireland 100 by Maria .Johnston.

Lost and Found Art Exhibition, Navan

I attended the official opening of the art exhibition Lost and Found in the Solstice Arts Centre Navan, on Thursday evening. The exhibition displays some the Megalithic art found on the passage tombs of Meath, Newgrange, Knowth, Fourknocks, Tara, Loughcrew. Professor George Eogan, a native of Nobber, co Meath, excavated Knowth and discovered much of this art and he has written extensively on the Passage Tomb builders of the Boyne Valley. He has compiled a booklet Megalithic Art in County Meath which is available free at the exhibition.

This factual study of Megalithic art of the county is balanced by the work of four contemporary artists in response to this Neolithic work. The artists are Niall de Buitléar, Fiona Hallinan, Anna MacLeod and Sabina Mac Mahon and the exhibition is curated by Brian Fay.

At the official opening George Eogan was honoured for his work in excavating and studying the megalithic tombs and art of the Boyne/Blackwater valley and he spoke with some enthusiasm of the importance of the area in a European and world context - the Passage tombs of the area are older than the Pyramids of Egypt. The Meath area has more stones with megalithic art than the total found in Europe as a whole.

George Eogan was one of my Archaeology lecturers in 1969/70 when I attended UCD, Earlsford Terrace as a BA evening student. He had just discovered the two passages in Knowth and it was an exciting time to be studying Archaeology.

The modern art seems to be wonderful. I didn't have time to study it in detail - a writers' meeting in Trim called and I must return. I was especially taken with Sabina Mac Mahon's work entitled: St Oliver Plunkett and the Apparition of an Angel and a Tailboard Camera at Loughcrew Cairn T on Carnbane East. She specialises in works which involve photographs.

Top: Art on kerbstone 52, Newgrange. Below: Untitled by Niall de Buitlear from the exhibition. A similar piece in a current exhibition in the RHA in Dublin is pictured in yesterday's Irish Times.

Robert Fitterman & Kim Rosenfield

And in London last week I looked for a poetry reading to attend. The Poetry Cafe which has an open mic on Tuesdays was closed for August and an internet search found only one event for last Tuesday night week, a reading by American poets (also husband and wife) Robert Fitterman (above) & Kim Rosenfield in Birkbeck College, University of London.

I had never heard of these two poets but a short internet search suggested that they might be interesting so I went along. About thirty people attended and I got the impression that most knew each other and that they might be attending a course at the college, possibly part-time students.

The two poets were introduced as writers of conceptual poetry. What is this? A definition is difficult, but it often means that the poet uses found texts to create a poem. Fitterman, for instance read a poem of his which consisted of a list of businesses found in a shopping mall - Burger Kind, Body Shop, Dunkin Donuts etc. Each verse was made up of the same list in a different order. He writes a lot about cities and shopping malls - he has published three volume of Metropolis, a poem-project he has been working on over the last ten years or so.

There is a video of a reading by him here. He read some of the same pieces in London. He has got rid of the beard!

Lots of him reading at PennSound on this page.

One of his projects at the moment is to find a real person on the internet and select pieces of texts, facebook comment, tweets etc by this person, other people of the same name and their friends and put those texts together to create a poem. He read some which included an email from himself to the person and the reply. Fascinating stuff.

And Kim Rosenfield? Completely different conceptual poetry, much less immediately understandable but a great reading style which involved reading pages each of which contained a line or two of each poem. She reminded me of C D Wright who really impressed me when I saw her at the Dun Laoghaire Poetry Festival a couple of years ago. You can hear and see Kim Rosenfield here. Her page on PennSound is here.

An enjoyable evening. Poetry can be many things, not just neat packages of fine sounding accounts of remembered incidents with thinly disguised lessons or sensitive anecdotes dotted with the personal pronoun, first person singular or embarrassing personal revelations (the kind of poems I entered in Over the Edge this year. I wonder how they'd like some conceptual stuff?).

Poet of Fingal Results

Trim poet wins the Poet of Fingal title!

No not me, Tommy Murray for his poem, Lottery. Doesn't he look pleased! First the Meath Writers Circle win the Battle of the Books and now this. There will be no standing them at the Boyne Readings! This is the third time Tommy has won this competition and brought the impressive trophy to Trim. Second was Aine Lyons and third John Flynn.

I attended the presentations of the Annual Literary Awards at Swords Heritage Festival last evening at The Carnegie Court Hotel, North St., Swords. A big crowd, good company, nice food but no award for my 100 line poem. Entering a long poem not a good idea!

Awards were presented in the Short Story Competition, the Poet Of Fingal Competition and the "What Swords Means To Me" Contest by Councillor Ken Farrell, Mayor Of Fingal. Trevor Sargent TD also attended and spoke.

The Short Story prizewinners were 1. M Hughes, 2. Anne Lawlor and 3, Christopher McGeogh.
Congratulations to all the winners.

Robert Ievers Sullivan, Sligo RIC County Inspector

And who was this RIC Co Inspector for Sligo whose writing isn't the easiest to decipher. His name was Robert Ievers Sullivan and here he is in the 1911 Census return. His handwriting caused a problem for the present-day transcriber who rendered his middle name Ievers as Teven. I've sent in a correction.

Robert was a Limerick native, married a Wexford lady and his children were born in Cork and Kerry. Policemen were liable to be transferred often. The Ievers second name may be his mother's maiden name - it does seem to occur often in Limerick. Robert called a son after himself and a daughter after his wife. His son, who is a medical student in 1911, in Trinity presumably, joined the medical corps and was wounded and decorated during the Great War - Military Cross. You have to search for Sullivan in the pdf links.

Here is the family in Tralee in 1901 where Robert was a District Inspector. They have a groom in Kerry but not in Sligo. does this mean that he kept a horse in Kerry but not in Sligo? Was the horse a leisure occupation or official transport? No time for leisure in Sligo as the political situation hots up?

The temptation is to spend hours online following up leads - his grandchildren must be alive somewhere today. Did the family emigrate after the Treaty? Some former RIC members got positions in police forces in far flung Empire outposts. If you find out anything let me know.

National Archives London

I spent three days in London last week. Among other things I spent a day and a half in the National Archives in Kew doing some research for my history book. I've most of the research done but needed to look at a few things. The British National Archives is a wonderful place on the banks of the Thames, the opposite of what you might expect an archive to be - spacious, airy, user friendly. Most of the searching and ordering is computerised and the use of digital cameras is encouraged. This is where the records of the administration of the United Kingdom and the Empire are stored.

I looked at the hand-written (a bit of a scribble actually) monthly reports on the state of Co Sligo by the RIC County Inspector for 1912 and 1913 as well as various files on incidents during the War of Independence in the county. I took digital photos of all the interesting material for study and analysis over the winter.

It's a thrill to get files with a red SECRET stamp on the cover. Some are also marked Not for Release until 2022 - obviously rules changed in the meantime. Nothing sensational in these though, fairly routine. What does strike you is the amount of bureaucracy involved in the administration.

A file on an incident such as a noisy torchlight parade of less than a hundred people in Gurteen, Co Sligo to celebrate Count Plunkett's election victory in North Roscommon in 1917 passes from office to office, from the local RIC Barracks to Sligo to Dublin and back collecting opinions and paperwork on whether the police should prosecute the leaders or not. Eventually someone decides that while the Gurteen paraders may have technically breached DORA - the Defence of the Realm Act they shouldn't be prosecuted.

The leader of the parade, Owen Tansy, died in the 'flu epidemic of the following year 1918.

Tara, Seamus Heaney and Human Chain

I won't be at the Tara event today - some things are more important than poetry. Seamus Heaney's new collection, Human Chain, is just out so no doubt he'll be reading from it there. I presume there will be a Dublin launch later - hope to get to that.

A review of the new book here in yesterday's Irish Times. And one in the Guardian by Colm Tobin here. Colm Tobin will appear (if that's the correct verb) at Tara today with Heaney, Muldoon and Longley.

For a much different take on Heaney and his latest collection, based on reading the first half of the book read Todd Swift's blog somewhere on this page.

Cinnamon Press Poetry Sequences Competition

I entered the Cinnamon Press Poetry Sequences competition some time ago. I sent off my High Noon sequence hoping like Gary Cooper that my worth would be recognised and publication in their Sequences Anthology would ensue. After all it's a great collection of poems, full of insight about cowboys and marshals and Quakers and outlaws, relevant and topical.

Sadly I got a carefully worded email yesterday saying that around 700 sequences had been entered by over 300 writers. The quality of the writing was very high and with many sequences running to six to ten pages we had to make some very hard decisions in order to select the 18 sequences that will feature in the book. I'm afraid we haven't kept any of your work on this occasion, but hope that you will be interested in future Cinnamon Press submission calls. Please do keep an eye on the website for other writing opportunities.

Now I know how Gary felt - rejected. It's nice when they give you information about the number who entered, I suppose they think it will make you feel better. Anyway who cares? We don't write to get recognition or awards or publication, do we?

Over the Edge New Writer of the Year

The shortlist has been announced for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year in Galway. I made the longlist but sadly not the shortlist even though the shortlist has 40 writers on it. Ah well! Fellow Boyne Writer, Evan Costigan, did make the list, well done! Evan made the short list last year as well.

The winners in the fiction and poetry categories will be announced at the September 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 30th (6.30-8pm).

Waiting for results of the Poet of Fingal Competition (next week), the Dromineer Festival competition and the Castlecomer Poetry Competition. Not that I'm expecting to get anywhere in any of these. No way! I just enter a few competitions now and then for the fun of it. Really.

Feis Teamhra : A Turn at Tara

Poetry Ireland in association with National Heritage Week presents a celebration of Tara and Irish Heritage in poetry and song with Paul Muldoon, Colm Toibín, Susan McKeown, Laoise Kelly, Michael Longley, Seamus Heaney and others on this Sunday 29 August.
Venue: Hill of Tara, Co Meath. Time: 3pm
Email contact: sumckeown@yahoo.com.

I attended this last year, held in the small church on the hill. Great music and poetry. Paul Muldoon and Michael Longley were there. Seems like an exceptional line up this year. Not to be missed!

Drumsna, Co Leitrim

When I started travelling from Meath to Sligo or vice versa Drumsna was a landmark on the journey; a neat little village with a narrow old bridge over the Shannon. I think the first time I ever drove that route myself the bridge was damaged and a very narrow wooden structure took its place.

Now new roads have bypassed Drumsna and the village seems to have thrived on its seclusion. I diverted there on my last journey west and spent a little time there. As well as being very picturesque it has lots of historical interest. It has a very well maintained and interesting website.

The writer Anthony Trollope (24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882), lived in the village for a period during the 1840s, where he wrote his novel The Macdermots of Ballycloran partly based on the local ruins of a country house. The first International Anthony Trollope Summer School takes place in Drumsna this week-end, Friday August 27th until Monday August 30th. It commences with registration and reception in the Community Centre, Quay Street on the Friday evening. I notice Dr Jennifer Kelly, Maynooth University, a Leitrim native who is Director of the Seán MacDermott Summer School, is speaking at this one.

Probably the most famous person born in Drumsna is the explorer Thomas Heazle Parke. He spent a lot of his youth in Drumsna prior to qualifying as a surgeon. He joined the British Army and took part in Stanley's expedition crossing the continent of Africa. He is buried in the little graveyard in the village (picture above). A bronze statue of Parke stands outside the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street in Dublin.

Swallows

Took this picture of an adult swallow leaving after feeding its young. Could be the male or female. According to Wikipedia: Overall the contribution of male swallows towards parental care is the highest of any passerine bird.

Will these young be developed enough to sucessfully migrate in autumn?
Nice to have swallows nesting under the eaves (This is not our house) but it does have some drawbacks. They are obviously very careful about not fouling their nest so you shouldn't stand directly below the nest for too long. Look at the mess on the badly positioned window sill. Similar stuff on the ground. Good fertiliser for the garden perhaps!

This by poet Osip Mandelstam from this page.

We have bound swallows
into battle legions - and we,
we cannot see the sun: nature’s boughs
are living, twittering, moving, totally:
through the nets –the thick twilight - now
we cannot see the sun, and Earth floats free.

LitLab at the All Ireland Fleadh

Our LitLab group are making their contribution the the All Ireland Fleadh in Cavan this weekend. Yesterday Saturday we held a poetry and prose reading in the small intimate venue, The Book House, Bullock Lane, just off the main street in the town. It was an oasis of quiet away from the excitement and hurry and noises of the Fleadh with its wandering crowds, street sessions and loudspeaker music.

The small room was full and the audience was responsive and interested. They even joined in the chorus of my Commuters' Song. The chorus is Virginia, Kells, Navan, Dunshaughlin naming the main towns on the Cavan - Dublin commute. The confusion arose because every second chorus has the towns in reverse order (returning home!). Anyway they enjoyed it.

The general theme was Journeys and we each read poems or prose more or less on the topic. We were Paddy Smith, Paddy Halligan (pictured), Ina Olohan, Honor Duff, Pat Devaney, Mairead Donnellan and Irene O'Dea. Paddy Halligan also treated us to a song specially composed for the fleadh by LitLab member Honor Duff.

The group performs again today at 12.30 in the same venue. I won't make this one - too much going on!

Long Poems

I like long poems and have written a few. My To the Centre and Back got third prize in the Kavanagh competition last year though my shorter long poem Travellers didn't even get on the Over The Edge longlist last year.

Long poems are extreme. They're too bold, too ordinary, too self-centered, too expansive, too grand, too banal, too weird, too much. They revel in going too far; they eschew caution and practicality and categorization and even, perhaps, poetry itself, which as a form tends to value the economy of language. These poems are anti-tweets though they often contain twitter-like language.

From An Anatomy of the Long Poem by poet Rachel Zucker on the Poets.org website. She too has a special love for the long poem. Why? Among a list of reasons she includes:
Long poems take time to read.
Long poems allow the poet to change her mind.
Long poems are imperfect.

Over the Edge Longlist

The longlist has been announced for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year and is available on the website. It is a long list, 83 of the 341 writers who entered are included, roughly one quarter. I'm delighted to be on the list. Boyne Writers Group have two on the list, Evan Costigan is also there. Both of us have been long listed before and I think Evan also made the short list one year.

I notice Jane Clarke who won the iYeats Poetry competition on the list and also one or two who are appearing in the next Boyne Berries.

Not long to wait for the announcement of the short list. This happens at the August 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 26th (6.30-8pm). Finally the winners will be announced at the September 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 30th (6.30-8pm)

Sweet Pea in Bloom

The Sweet Pea or Lathyrus odoratus is a highly scented annual of the Leguminosae family. I like sweep pea in the garden but I've not always been successful at growing them. They need lots of attention and care. This year I sowed some seed and planted them out in a number of tubs. They have done fairly well and are now flowering well. As you pass between these two down the garden there's a beautiful scent.

Sweet Pea poetry? John Keats seems to be credited with popularizing the name “sweet pea. He wrote in A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Many and many a verse I hope to write,
Before the daisies, vermeil rimmed and white,
Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees
Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas,
I must be near the middle of my story.

and again in I Stood Tip-Toe Upon a Little Hill

Here are sweet peas, on tip-toe for a flight:
With wings of gentle flush o’er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings.

Over The Edge New Writer of The Year Competition

This year's Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition has attracted a record 341 entries. The long-list will be announced in Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway tomorrow Wednesday, August 18th at 6.30pm and later that evening, on the website.

I got on to the long-list one year, failed at least two other times. Maybe this year will be the year - I sent in three really good poems, possibly one great one, though it has been rejected in three other competitions so far. The fact that there's 340 other writers in the race is a bit daunting but I suppose a lot of those are prose writers.

The short-list will be announced at the August 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 26th and the winners will be announced at the September 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 30th so it's a long process with a few hurdles to cross.

This year’s competition judge is James Martyn from Galway, a member of The Talking Stick Writing Workshop. James writes both fiction and poetry and his first collection of poetry, Shedding Skin, was recently published by Arlen House.

The 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition is sponsored by Charlie Byrne's Bookshop and Michael D. Higgins T.D

Boyne Berries Magazine - More

Still on the subject of Boyne Berries magazine, it amazes me how many writers go to the trouble to write their pieces, find a magazine to submit to and then don't follow the instructions. We ask for a short bio in the third person and a postal address as well.

Particularly annoying is the writer who sends a half page of a biography which they expect you to edit down to three lines. We specify that we want only three poems. Many still send in poems or prose only with no bio and/or no postal address. This means more emails at a later stage. We usually don't exclude these but probably should.

We do normally exclude those who send us more than three poems. We have had submissions of whole chunks of manuscripts, innumerable poems or wedges of novels. We delete at once.

So please, read the rules or instructions. If your submissions indicates that you haven't read these carefully why should we or any editor or competition judge read your composition. Anyway submissions to Boyne Berries won't open again until sometime in 2011.

Above: Boyne Berries 7 launch last March.

Boyne Berries 8

Submission deadline has passed for the next two issues of Boyne Berries, Autumn 2010 and Spring 2011. Submissions have been tabulated in a spreadsheet and delivered to the editors. Fewer submissions than last time. It can't be the recession since unlike a competition there's no charge. Maybe we didn't get the same publicity as last time. However the website has all the information on submitting.

Still we got submissions from many foreign parts as well as from Ireland. One from Australia this time as well as a number from the UK and the USA, from Italy, France and India too.

We haven't got any grant recently for the magazine. Sales nearly cover the cost of printing and the Boyne Writers' Group cover the balance and fund the launch. These launches are very enjoyable affairs with many writers turning up to read their pieces, some travelling long distances and someone well known performing the launch. Peter Fallon of Gallery Press and Noelle Harrison the novelist have launched issues.

We haven't yet asked anyone to perform this next launch which will take place at the end of September.

Anyway the decisions will be made in the next few weeks and everyone who submitted will be informed. Almost all submissions came by email which means no scanning or typing in texts and easy contact with the authors.

Inspirational Teachers

The Super Generation is currently compiling a book of stories and 8-10 poems about the impact of inspirational teachers which will be published later this year.

The purpose of the book is to highlight the importance of teachers' work on young people's lives. They trust that it will be a resource for new and experienced teachers and these true stories will celebrate great teachers and appreciative students, provide lots of laughs, recall poignant moments, and prompt memories among readers.

They have gathered wonderful stories from people across a wide spectrum of Irish life but are still seeking more personal accounts of the impact of an outstanding teacher and how teachers have shaped lives and/or careers. The stories can vary in length from 300 to 1500 words.
They are also looking for poems about school days and/or inspirational teachers, which could be published in this book?

If you would like to contribute to this book, please e-mail Lynne at this address wordstroker@hotmail.co.uk asap.

You can follow the link below to read Ruairi Quinn, TD’s contribution.

http://www.thesupergeneration.com/content/ruairi-quinns-story

Poetry on Beer Mats

Our LitLab group was anxious to become involved in some way with the staging of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Cavan this August so we came up with this idea.

The LitLab writing group, comprised of writers from Meath and Cavan, have produces a series of ten haiku to mark the staging of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2010 in Cavan. These haiku are published on drinks coasters and have a musical theme. The initiative is sponsored by Cavan Arts Office, The Arts Council of Ireland and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

We wrote haiku, the group discussed, criticised, argued about syllable count (there are five in Dum diddly dum!) chopped and changed them then chose one from each member plus one extra to make up ten. The coasters are being distributed to pubs and restaurants in Cavan and will be actually used during the weeks of the Fleadh 15 - 24 August.

We are also holding a lunchtime reading, poetry and prose, in The Book House venue, Bullock Lane, Cavan town on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22 August, 12.30 to 1.30. All welcome.

Aesthetica Creative Works Competition

There is less than one month left to enter the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition this year - Poetry, fiction and artwork sections.

The Prizes for 2010 Include: Winners will receive £500. Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual. Complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual. Category winners will also receive a collection of books from their partner publishers Prestel Publishing and Bloodaxe. Click here to find out more information on how to enter.

I haven't decided whether to enter this year yet. I was very lucky last year to have a poem among the finalists and it was printed in the annual. The annual was an impressive publication with a great selection of poetry and stories and very impressive artwork. As the website says: Inside this collection, there are 96 artists and writers that span nationality and age, offering a true insight into the creative zeitgeist of our times.

And the poem that was successful there? Well as often happens I was slightly surprised by which poem was chosen - a fairly traditional form and theme. If someone else had read this poem at a Writers' Group meeting I would probably have attacked it saying "Loosen it out a bit, don't tell us so much, let us make up our own minds!"

So I probably won't enter this year on the basis that I can't be so lucky two years in a row. Though I might look up one of my traditional lyrics that I hesitate to send out and chance it.

Butterflies on the Oregano

Our small herb garden has a patch of Oregano. This needs little care just some cutting back to stop it taking over. It flowers profusely during the summer.

Sitting outside yesterday before the match reading Rita Anne Higgins' Throw in the Vowels (She did give my poem a commended in Sligo) I was surprised by the number and variety of insects which were collecting nectar from the Oregano. Lots of bees, wasps and various kinds of flies but also these two butterflies. Three or four of the larger one, the Tortoiseshell, but only one of the smaller the Small Copper. These are apparently quite common though they will only occasionally visit gardens.

I haven't noticed one before. Of course being retired now I have the time to look at butterflies!
The blue flower top left is Borage.

The Irish Butterfly Monitoring Scheme has lots of news and pictures.

Dromineer Festival Again

The closing date for the Dromineer Literary Festival Poetry and Short Story Competitions 2010 has been extended to August 27 2010. The Festival takes place over the weekend 7 to 10 October so the judges still have plenty of time to do their business. My entry is already on the way.

Do you check out the judge's own writing before you enter a competition, as regards style, content and form and pick items of your own that are similar? I don't think so though if you are familiar with their work it's difficult not to be influenced. Just to send your best available pieces and hope for the best. Best? How do I judge that?

Anyway poet Dave Lordan will judge the Poetry Competition and Author David Rice will judge the Short Story Competition.

David Rice is director of the Killaloe Hedge-School of Writing and he has kindly sponsored a weekend at the Killaloe Hedge-School for the first prize winners of the Poetry and Short Story competitions. So the prizes now are 1st Prize €500.00 plus a weekend at the Killaloe Hedge-School Workshops, 2nd Prize €350.00, 3rd Prize €150.00.

Census of Ireland 1911

The More Search Options on the National Archives Census search is very useful. You can search say for those who filled in Writer in the occupation column in the whole country or in one county. You'll get the sign writers etc also of course. Who remembers the American-born writer Adela Orpen now? She described herself as a writer of novels and an agnostic in 1911. She doesn't seem to appear in the 1901 Census.

How many poets in Ireland in 1911? If you search for poet in the occupation field for 1911 you get 17 but these include obvious mis-transcriptions, the Poet Mistress from Cork being the most obvious example. The site does have an easy to use suggest corrections facility. William B Yeats appears here as a dramatic writer and poet living in a hotel in South Frederick Street, Dublin. His name and details are entered by someone else and his name is spelled Yeates. Augusta Lady Gregory, then a widow, was also there that night. Her occupation is given as None.

The 1916 leader Thomas McDonagh is also among the poets, filling in Poet and Teacher. BA National University in the occupation column. He seems to have been living on his own in a house in Dublin.

The danger with the Census online is wasting hours in similar very interesting searches.

Sligo's Free Thinker 1911

I mentioned before in a post my fascination with the fact that one person inSligo when filling in the 19111 Census of Ireland form described himself as Freethinker. With the Census online I decided to try and find this individual and can now reveal his identity.

He was Herbert Quinton, a 34 year old Dental Surgeon who lived with his wife, Elizabeth Sarah, and two children, Herbert Jack and Arthur William, in Wine Street, Sligo. He had been born in Surrey and his wife in London and they had been married four years. The children had been born in Sligo. His wife's religion was entered as Independent as was that of his children. So indeed was the servant who had been born in Wicklow but the two Sligo-born servants were Catholics.

The dentist must have been the Mr Quinton who wrote to the White Cross in Dublin in late 1921 during the Truce complaining that some Sligo traders contributed to the local White Cross collection under duress. The letter was passed back to Sligo and details were published locally. The White Cross was a fund set up to assist republicans and their families who were suffering hardship because of their involvement in the Irish War of Independence.

As well as these four Quintons in Sligo town there were three Quintons living in Mullaghmore, Sligo a coastguard and his wife and child.

Herbert Quinton was still practising as a dentist in Sligo in 1931.

Ballymote Heritage Weekend

When you are retire and at leisure to wander the countryside in the summer (Who? Me?) you soon come to learn that every decent self-respecting town and village has its own festival, summer school or such like celebration. Last week I spent a few hours at the Coolaney Summer Festival and the Yeats Summer School.

Last Sunday I paid a flying visit to the Ballymote Heritage Week-end in Co Sligo for the Sunday evening lecture. This event has been organised by Ballymote Heritage Group since 1990 and attracts a large number from Sligo and indeed some neighbouring counties. I met a number of familiar faces and names there and mentioned the new undertaking in the hope that I might find someone who knows someone who has some useful information or photographs.

The lecture was entitled Selling Ballymote: Manuscripts and Society in Northwest Ireland 1500-1550 by Professor Raymond Gillespie, History Department, NUI Maynooth. This was a model lecture for such and occasion - a local topic The Book of Ballymote, great details, a lively lecturer with enthusiasm and sense of humour but without definitive answers. We felt he was letting us into a mystery but certainly not teaching us anything. I learned a lot thought.

In 1522 Aodh O'Donnell of Donegal bought The Book of Ballymote from MacDonagh of Ballymote, whose family had commissioned the manuscript, for 140 milch cows. Why did he want the book and why did he pay so much for it? The discussion and possible answers to these questions throw some light on the situation in the country at the time and on how people thought at the time.

O'Donnell and his family were on the rise with pretensions to be the new Brian Boru and being seen as learned with a large library was part of this. MacDonagh was on the way down and had little respect for the manuscript mentioning its reputation for silliness in a marginal line on the manuscript itself.

That brief note does little justice to a fine lecture. The manuscript is in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and can be seen online here. Follow links to Royal Irish Academy. Picture above from the site of apart of a page from the manuscript.

Afterwards tea, coffee, scones and jam, cake, sandwiches all included in the 10 euro entrance charge. I must remember to spend longer here next year.

The Black Diamond Poetry Prize

The Black Diamond Poetry Prize In association with Castlecomer Writers’ and Arts Festival 2010. Adjudicator: Grace Wells, Award winning poet and author. Prize: €500

Competition Rules:

Entries must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant.
Entry fee: €3 for the first poem. €2 for each subsequent poem.
Entries cannot be returned – please keep originals.
Winner will be notified by post/email by Friday, September 17th
Presentation of prizes and Readings will take place in Castlecomer on Saturday 25th September.
Poems may be on any subject, but must not exceed 40 lines.
Poems must be typed on one side of page only.
No entry form required, but please enclose on a separate page:
name, address, telephone number, email address.
Cheques made payable to: The Black Diamond Poetry Prize
Closing date: Friday, August 27th
Send entries to: Michael Massey, c/o Castlecomer Library, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.