I went to several ‘open mic’ readings at this year’s Writers’ Week festival in Listowel and read a poem at each of them as follows:

1. 28th May - At Thursday night’s “Open Mic” session held at The Kingdom Bar on Church St., Listowel, and MCed by the inimitable George Rowley, I read Tricolour which seemed to go down OK, given the sensitive theme.
2. 29th May - The “Poems without Pints” Open Mic event was held in Lynch’s Bakery and Café at 3pm. I arrived late due to the Rebecca Miller reading overrunning its slot and managed with difficulty to squeeze in to the room where the reading was taking place. It was so packed that the audience were spilling out onto the footpath! Here I read Iconoclast from memory. It was greeted with absolute silence by the large audience - a bit unnerving!
   Paul O’Mahony captured most of it on his digital Dictaphone so I’m hoping to get hold of it at some stage.
3. 29th May - At Friday night’s “Open Mic” session held at The Kingdom Bar, I performed Spell of the Wicked Fairy which was very well received by the audience. Poet Georgina Eddison was there with her young daughter and she told me her daughter loved the fairy! Above is a photo taken by poet Pauline Fayne of the performance.