Walks and thoughts by Patrick Stack :: personal musings of poet, web wizard, wordsmith

Farewell to Nuala O’Faolain

May 10, 2008

Writer and journalist, Nuala O’Faolain, succumbed to her cancer just prior to midnight last night. I remember her from the time she worked for RTE. She was a brilliant and insightful journalist, and an excellent writer - though I have yet to savour her writing. For the past few years we have had a hardback copy of her novel My Dream of You on our bookshelves, thanks to Ana who purchased it. I’ve been meaning to read it but somehow never got round to it, and the book ended up hidden from view on the very top shelf of our living room library. When Nuala announced recently that she had terminal cancer and that she was refusing treatment for it, I made a mental note to start reading the book while she was still alive. Sadly, she has passed on and I still haven’t started it. Now that I have finally got it down from its lofty hiding place, I will read it in memory of her.

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Burma Cyclone disaster

May 09, 2008

The corrupt, vicious and illegal military junta that has Burma in its stranglehold for many years now is deliberately killing thousands of Burmese civilians by refusing to let the International Community distribute aid to the survivors of the recent cyclone. It makes me sick to think that such brutal selfishness still exists on such a massive scale on our world. Watch the video appeal for help from the Burmese Monks.

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Nell Regan at the White House tonight

May 07, 2008

Tonight’s guest reader at the White House Poetry Revival is Nell Regan. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it due to other commitments.

Nell Regan’s debut collection Preparing for Spring was published in 2007 by Arlen House in Ireland and will be launched in New York with Syracuse University Press later this year. The collection was shortlisted for the 2007 Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards and she is the recipient of the Dublin City Council Literature Bursary for 2007.

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Rejection slip from The Stinging Fly

May 05, 2008

I received a rejection slip from The Stinging Fly last week. It wasn’t my first rejection slip by a long shot, nor, I dare say, will it be my last. I had submitted 4 poems in February for their consideration: Full Moon over America, Resurrection, The Crash, and Morning Fog. I was hopeful - as one always is - of an acceptance. I’ll submit again next year in expectation of a better outcome.

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Call for submissions for issue 8 of Revival

May 05, 2008

Revival, the poetry journal of the WhiteHousePoets, is calling for submissions from local, national and international poets for the next issue which will be published in Limerick in July 2008. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 31st May 2008. Submission guidelines can be viewed on the Revival Press website.

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Bealtaine shona dhibh uilig

May 01, 2008

Bealtaine shona dhíbh uilig!

It’s Beltane today and traditionally the first day of Summer in the ancient Irish and pagan calendar. May we have a good one this year - hopefully we won’t experience the washout we had in July-August 2007 again for many a long year.
The blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is late in flowering this year - I noticed the first blooms only yesterday (30 April) - due to the unseasonably cold weather we’ve experienced throughout much of April. Last year it started flowering on 5 April 2007 - see here. I recorded first seeing the Whitethorn (aka May Flower, or Hawthorn) - Crataegus monogyna - coming into flower last year on 29 April 2007. This year there is no sign of it yet, though it is sporting a full set of leaves.

Of course today is Samhain and the first day of Winter down under (Australia and New Zealand) according to the pagan calendar. Samhain shona dhíbh uilig ansin! Hope you have a good one.

Posted by destaic at 9:14am
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First cuckoo of 2008

April 23, 2008

I was woken up at a very early hour this morning - it was still pitch dark but something told me it was somewhere between 4 and 6 am. I thought I was hearing things at first, but when I listened carefully there was no doubt - a cuckoo was doing his thing (going cu-cu cu-cu cu-cu) incessantly somewhere nearby. It was the first cuckoo of 2008, and judging by the unearthly hour of the morning, it must have been the mad cuckoo of Kilmaley who comes every year and cu-cus at the weirdest times. So for the record I heard the first cuckoo of 2008 before dawn on 23 April 2008 in Kilmaley.

He’s earlier this year than he was last year - I recorded my first cuckoo of 2007 on April 27th last year.

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Revival 7 launched

April 16, 2008

The launch of Revival no 7 was a great success, and a very enjoyable evening was had by all. Kevin Higgins who was on hand to do the launch, said a few words, and then treated all and sundry to an excellent reading of his work, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

As is the norm for Revival launches, poets represented in the publication who are present on the night are asked to read their poem. I read Lament which appears in Revival 7. View the launch slide show.

Afterwards, there was the weekly open mic which proved very lively and entertaining as lots of really good work was presented. A group of poets from the Listowel Writers Group were present and some of them read also. I took the opportunity to read Tricolour for the first time. I found it difficult as I didn’t have the poem properly committed to memory and ended up trying to read it from the page - always a problem for me. The result was I made a bit of a mess of it and the poem didn’t flow like it should. I also felt uncomfortable while reading it and upon reflection I realized that this was because I hadn’t properly contextualized it. This I did the next day (10 April), by adding an appropriate excerpt from The Proclamation of The Irish Republic to the beginning. At last Sunday’s monthly meeting of the Three-Legged Stool Poets in Ennis, I read the updated version and am pleased to confirm that the poem is indeed finished. I have now amended the poem which I published in a previous posting.

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Tonight’s launch by The White House Poets

April 09, 2008

I’m looking forward to tonight’s launch of Revival no. 7 at the White House Poetry event in the White House Pub on O’Connell St., Limerick at 9pm (get there early as it will be crowded the way these launches always are), not least because I have a poem in Revival 7 entitled Lament and will get to read it for the first time in public.

The evening apparently kicks off with a reading by guest poet, Kevin Higgins. This will be followed by the official launch of Revival 7. Finally, the open mic session will take place, the MC for the night being John Johnston. I’m hoping to give my latest completed poem, Tricolour (published here in a previous post), its first ever public airing also.

Some famous poet, whose name escapes me, once wrote that a poem is not complete until such time as it becomes public. I very much identify with this, as the act of reading to an audience is the equivalent of severing the umbilical chord, when the poem comes into its own as an independent entity. The audience serves as midwife to the completion of the poem’s birthing process as it were. Only then can I judge whether a poem has real merit: I may feel in my bones that it has but I can never be sure until I experience my own delivery of the poem to the audience and feel their reaction to it.

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Launch of Revival 7

April 07, 2008

Issue no. 7 of Revival is being launched at the White House this coming Wednesday 9th April 2008. As I have a poem in it - Lament - I’ll be going to read it on the night.

There is also a guest poet from Galway - Kevin Higgins.

Posted by destaic at 3:47pm
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