Martin Burke - poet and playwright - founder of the bilingual Theatre group ‘Zonder Thuis’

“Burke is the eloquent essayist of the sublime” [Projected Letters]
“His style is far ahead in terms of imaginative inventiveness.: ….startling, original work” [Kiosque Review]

Download his latest work, FUGUE, for free courtesy of Revival Press.

Last Wednesday night (12 November), the 2nd Annual All Ireland Live Poetry Championships took place at the White House, with 2 poets competing from each of the four provinces. Munster poet, Dónal Ó Siadhacháin, was the outright winner with a powerful rendition of his poem in celebration of Nelson Mandela. It proved a very entertaining night indeed with a huge range of poetic voices and styles on show.

The competition itself was followed by the usual “Open mic” session at which 15 poets did their stuff. I read Epithalamion in public for the second time - I stress ‘read’ as I still haven’t committed it sufficiently well to memory to do it from memory.

Tomorrow the 18th November All Ireland Poetry Slam Winner 2008 Dónal Ó Siadhacháin will be featured on Newstalk along with Barney Sheehan, MC White House Poetry Revival and Stephen Smith from Dublin who came second at the recent championships held at the White House Pub in Limerick.
They will be on the Sean Moncrieff show between 3-4 on Newstalk 106 - 108 fm, there will be a pod cast if you miss the first airing.

Tomorrow (Saturday 15th November) sees the inaugural Three Legged Stool poets‘ monthly session in Glór, Ennis. Proceedings start at 2.30pm sharp. Members of the Three Legged Stool Poetry group will read some of their recent work. This will be followed by an ‘Open Mic’ session when anybody who wants can read their poetry. Our first guest poet, Fred Johnston, will finish the session off with a reading from his work. We also hope to have some musical interludes. So if you’re in the Ennis area and would like to take time out for a coffee, or drink and listen to some live poetry please come along. The whole session will take a maximum of two hours.

Having completed two poems in the last three weeks, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to work on next. After the intensive work on the Epithalamion it’s a bit disconcerting. I’ve had a quick look at some fragments that I have lying around since the 1980s but none of them are grabbing my attention.

As to reading poetry, I’m currently dipping in and out of various collections and anthologies in an effort to fire the creative juices - to no avail.

I’ll just have to stay with it and trust that something will fire my imagination.

The third poetry evening in the series ‘SOUNDINGS’ takes place this Thursday evening November 13th in Newcastle West Library.

“‘SOUNDINGS’ is an evening of poetry, musings and stories” says Librarian Aileen Dillane. “If you are the type of person who enjoys hearing poetry read or are writing your own poetry, then this series which has commenced under the county’s poet in residence Eileen Sheehan is bound to interest you. We are really pleased to have Mary Kennelly as our guest poet for this SOUNDINGS evening. Many people will be familiar with Mary’s first lovely collection ‘Sunny Spells, Scattered Showers’ and her second collection is due out from Salmon Press in the New Year.”

“The evening also features an ‘open mic’ session”, says Arts Officer Joan Mac Kernan, “and this is open to anyone who would like to read their own work. To date we have been delighted with the uptake and impressed with the number of people who are quietly writing away. And of course reading one’s work aloud to an interested audience whets the creative juices.”

SOUNDINGS, an evening of magic woven around the sound and meaning of words commences at 8.00 pm and all are welcome.

Full details on the poet in residence programme and the SOUNDINGS evenings are available from the County Arts Office at telephone 496498/496300 or  email jmackernan@limerickcoco.ie

The 2nd All Ireland Live Poetry Championships take place this coming Wednesday 12th November at the White House in Limerick. It’s due to start at 9pm.

This week’s guest poet at The White House poetry event is Aine Moynihan. As per usual it starts at 9pm on Wednesday 5th November 2008.

A native of County Wexford, Aine Moynihan trained as a professional actor in the Abbey Theatre in the 1970s and also graduated in Arts and Education from UCD.  On moving to Kerry she became involved in the arts in the community, local radio, adult education and training. In 2002 she founded the |Youth Theatre Company, AnnOg.  She now divides her time between writing and directing and is engaged in research into actor training.

As always, the reading by the guest poet is followed by an “Open Mic” session.

Having looked at the Pantoum I talked about in the penultimate post, and read it aloud, I can confirm that it is indeed finished. I’ve titled it Pantoum, appropriately enough. It concerns the destruction of the natural environment in Ireland occasioned by the so-called building boom during the erstwhile reign of that mythical beast the “Celtic Tiger”.

I may, or may not, publish it here in the future. I haven’t decided yet.

It looks like I might have finished the Pantoum I started last year and slaved away at for months on end, only to finally lose interest in it. Not having looked at it for at least five months, never mind working on it, last night before I turned out the light I had a quick gawk at the rough work of it in one of the miniature notebooks I take around with me. Putting a structure on the scattered fragments was like rummaging through a particularly messy handbag for the bits of a letter that had been accidentally half-shredded and then stuffed in there for later retrieval. In any case, having got to the last incomplete verse, it struck me that if I put in the 1st and 3rd lines of the first verse in reverse order to fill the two missing 2nd and 4th lines of the last incomplete verse (which is how a pantoum finishes), the poem would be complete. Given the lateness of the hour and my tiredness it could wait until morning. Morning has come and gone and I haven’t looked at it yet, but I have a sneaking certainty that this pantoum is indeed finished! I’ll confirm later.

Clare Three-Legged Stool Poets are delighted to announce a new monthly poetry event in conjunction with Glór in Ennis. It will be held on the third Saturday of every month in the Atrium in Glór from 2.30pm to 4.30pm commencing on 15th November 2008. There is no entrance fee.
Each month will see a guest poet read from their work. This will be followed by readings of new poems by members of Clare Three Legged Stool Poets and others who want to introduce their work. The poetry will be interspersed with live music of a classical, traditional or jazz nature performed by local musicians. Please come along to listen or to read - you will be most welcome!
November’s guest poet is Fred Johnston, while December’s guest poet is Frank Golden .

The Three Legged Stool Poets was founded in 2003 to celebrate the poetic work of men and women in Clare, and counts the following poets among its members:

• Brian Mooney
• Arthur Watson
• Rob Hopkins
• Padraig Haugh
• Claire Hughes
• Murdoch Lothian
• John Doorty
• Frank Golden
• Geraldine Hetherton
• Patrick Stack
• Michelle Bradley
• Ilsa Thielan
• Michael Reeves
• Larry O’Bryan
• Noel Mulqueen
• Paul Saalbach