Abridged 0-29 Primal

Abridged 0 – 29: Primal: Edgar Martins, Lynda Tavakoli, Lynn Rothwell, Mark Goodwin, Sarah Usher, Stephen Murray, Cecilia Danell, Vivian Jones, Beth MacFarlane, Jan Harris, Stephanie Conn, Rebecca McGetrick, Dominic Connell, Kevin Graham, Aoife Mannix, Orla Fay, Mhairi Sutherland, Emma Must, Ruth Stacey, Eleanor Rees, Gail Mahon, Róisín Tierney, Martin Boyle, Ann Egan, Ian Clarke, David Andrew, Luke Prater, Belinda Loftus, Enda Coyle-Greene, Peter O’ Neill, Moyra Donaldson. Launch at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Thurs 04th April.

I was of course delighted to get an email from Gregory McCartney of Abridged saying that they would like to take my poem Of the Crow for this issue.  I always admire their submission calls.  Primal's was:

PRIMAL

The bodies of the naked on the low damp ground…In the violet hour to the violent sound

What first was humanity, in its primal condition, still smouldering with instinct and fear? We shift about in mind-forged manacles, the cold and viscous layer of the urban which closes us in with crusting edges. We are numbed and enveloped in the thick residue of industry and development. Lines of buildings, artificial languages and artificial lives, leave us unfeeling in unchallenged survival and a lost human heritage.

 

And we, low to the ground and overwhelmed in the sensurround, were marked with earth and the stench of other bodies. We were flooding inside, unlived and burning. All of our skin, naked to the air and to the movements of gravel under our pulsing palms and the balls of our feet; a charged weather encloses bare flesh, flailing bodies lit by a deep sun. We are locked and tangled in cyclical smoke movements around the flames and we are howling.

 

 

I've just submitted my latest two assignments through moodle.  They were 2000 words each on social and emotional well-being and gender in play.  Happy Easter!

Ó Bhéal's 300th

I very much enjoyed reading on Monday past in The Hayloft Bar above The Long Valley on Winthrop St. I met fellow featured reader and poet Maurice Devitt and I was impressed by his poetry especially the poems The Joy of Sets and The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work. Also I was touched by the poignant Mexico 1970 and The Watch, which both remember Devitt's father.

I must thank Paul Casey, founder and director of  Ó Bhéal for making the night enjoyable and for his hospitality. Also thanks to everyone who attended and listened.

I read from my chapbook; the 13 poems of Drawn to the Light. The readings are recorded and you can listen to lots of wonderful writers on the O'Bheal website. Next Monday the poet Ann Joyce will read. The 15th of April will be the 304th event and the 6th anniversary of O'Bheal. Well done.

On Monay night I stayed in the Parkview B & B, a rare and lovely place. Thanks to Finbar for his hospitality. Finally here is a shot of Cork City at night from the bedroom window.

Haunted by the poetic voice of Christina Rossetti

Yes this is what just happened to me!  I'm in bed writing a poem, well I've closed the document now to come back to it at a later stage, and a line from one of Christina Rossetti's poems wrote itself onto the page.  Now obviously I don't want to pawn this line as my own (as if) but maybe I'll allow its presence in italic.  Anyway I feel quite chirpy, like the birds, probably because it is spring and because I've rinsed my mind in silence.
 

Crannóg 32 Launch

Crannóg 32 will be launched in the Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway at 6.30 pm tomorrow.  I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.  Isn't the cover cool?  It makes me think of the Queen song The Invisible Man. 

You can buy the magazine here http://www.crannogmagazine.com/



 

Boy with Kite

I took this photo of a statue in Bettystown at the weekend. It made me think of this quote:

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.

Anais Nin

Shot Glass Journal Issue 9 now online

Shot Glass Journal issue 9 is now online.  My poem Towel is included and I am delighted that it has found such a nice home. 

You can read it by following this link: http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/orla_fay1.html

I have to say that I really enjoy this journal and that there are some lovely gems of poetry within its confines.  It is also great that it reaches an international audience. 

Well done to all involved!

 

Boyne Writers' Group AGM

Boyne Writers' Group AGM took place last Thursday in the Castle Arch Hotel. The group looked back on a successful year.  Boyne Berries 11 & 12 were launched by Michael Slavin and Professor Gregory Castle. The Boyne Readings and open mic ran for three months in April, May & June. The late Tommy Murray read in May.  Michael Farry published his debut poetry collection Asking for Directions with Doghouse Books. I launched my poetry chapbook Drawn to the Light in June.  Evan Costigan took first prize in The Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Competition.  The Group took part in the Battle of the Books at the annual Swift festival losing to The Meath Writers' Circle despite a perfect score of 10 from Michael Farry. Caroline Carey Finn organised a writing workshop for group members with tutor Barbara Smith.

Paddy Smith was returned chairman at the 2013 AGM.  Caroline Carey Finn is elected vice chairperson, Michael Farry secretary and Barbara Flood treasurer. A committee was also elected composed of three members; Anne Crinion, Tom Dredge and myself.  It is hoped that the Boyne Readings will return later in the year.  Boyne Berries 13 will be launched by Tom French on Thursday, 21st March.  Other business discussed included finances, possible workshops, the Internet in publishing, social media, editing and The Swift Festival.  Paddy Smith delivered an interesting chairman's address.

The next Boyne Writers' Group meeting will take place on Thursday, 21st February.

arduus ad solem!