Samhain shona dhíbh uilig!

Happy Halloween everybody! And may the coming year be good to you!

It’s bank holiday Monday today! I’m planning to do some work (not writing!) but first I feel compelled to clean up the mess in the office which has grown worse in recent months to the point where it’s difficult to locate stuff. So a little autumn cleaning is a necessity to free up the energy flow and make space for some creativity.

I’m currently working on a new poem which started out as free verse, but has insisted in taking on the pantoum form. It’s going well but far from finished. Interesting that the pantoum form has imposed itself in this case, as I’ve been trying to clear the blockage in the only other pantoum I’ve attempted which still remains unfinished. It’s been driving me to complete it but I’ve made little progress.

It’s Friday evening of the November bank holiday weekend already. It’s been a hectic week for me work-wise so much so I haven’t been able to post here at all. I’m off for a walk in the fields now, while it’s dry and before it gets dark. I’m taking the digital camera with me in case I get any interesting shots.

The poetry slam at the White House Poetry Revival tomorrow night starts at 9.30 pm. Open to all. Two rounds - three minutes max.

Last night, we went to the launch of Revial Poetry Journal issue no. 5. It consists of 40 poets each of which has one poem in the journal. Some well-known poets such as Gabriel FitzMaurice and Knute Skinner are represented, as well as some up-and-coming ones - Catherine Ann Cullen who was the guest reader at the Whitehousepoets in September last to name but one - and some first-timers such as myself. The current Mayor of Limerick, John Fahy, officially launched issue 5 of the Journal with a brief speech. Then each poet present on the night (around 10 I think) read or performed their poem during the open mic session.
Then, Keith Armstrong, the guest poet did his thing. His Che Guevara in Hanratty’s Hotel poem opens issue 5. We left before he started, as Thursday is a very long workday for both of us.

Issue 5 can be purchased online at Revival Press.

The Cuisle festival closes on Saturday night. The White House is hosting a poetry slam on this Saturday night, which I will definitely participate in.

As I flagged a couple of posts ago, issue 5 of the Revival Poetry Journal is being launched tonight at the White House Poetry Revival event in Limerick. It includes my poem Embrace which I will be performing. I’m also thinking of doing the untitled piece that starts Infinite sadness, which consists of 8 run-on haikus making 24 lines in all. And Bomb perhaps.

The week is flying by! It’s already Wednesday! Aaaagghhh!

I am delighted to announce that one of the poems I submitted for consideration is being published in Issue 5 of Revival Poetry Journal which will be launched this coming Wednesday 17th October at the White House Poetry Revival in Limerick as part of Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival.

I’ll be there on the night with my partner, Ana, and hope to perform the poem in question in addition to 1 or 2 others.

I was absolutely delighted when I heard the announcement yesterday that Doris Lessing had won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature. I’ve been a fan of Lessing since my late teens when I discovered her wonderful Sci-Fi Canopus in Argos Archives series. That lead me to read her short story collections - The Grass is Singing and To Room 19. Thence I proceeded to the masterful Golden Notebook every page of which I lived.

Each year for many years I awaited the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature to be disappointed that it wasn’t Doris Lessing. I had resigned myself to an appalling injustice being perpetrated on Doris Lessing as was the case with another literary giant in the personage of Jorge Luis Borges who died without getting the prize he deserved. Happily, I’ve been proved wrong!

Here’s a slide of me at the Whitehouse Poetry open mike session on Wednesday 26 September last.