Category Archives: Blog

‘IRISH STREET’ by Damian Smyth, my review

My review of Damian Smyth’s latest poetry collection appears in The Cardiff Review.

Compassion and reciprocity: Irish Street by Damian Smyth

Some additional comments:

There are many touches of wry humour, my favourite being the perceptive 5-line poem, Dipper which treats of a sheep in terms of the Egyptian royalty and a figurine from Ur / Gold leaf and lapis lit from within; those ankles, slim, elegant, worshipped.

published by Templar Poetry

The collection’s second poem, Downpatrick sets the tenor of the book by its depiction, as though in a miniature, of the single thing that might save its soul / When pestilence falls, rescue each mean inhabitant from ruin in every century / To come … and that is the kindness of the inhabitants towards the son of a pharmacist who tended to those who had nothing, for nothing. He has been merciful to them; they reciprocate by being gentle and generous towards his vulnerable son. Smyth makes clear that this reciprocity is in the reach of any town and, by implication, any of us.

Irish Street, Downpatrick

Below, the junction described in ‘St Brigid’s Day’

Because you could drop a rushy cross on the towncentre

And it would fit its articulate legs up each of the four streets,

Like its hips are broken, it’s clear that all the tales are true,

Especially the most unlikely.

Irish, English and Scotch Streets meet in exactly this way, as anyone who has ever seen them, or seen a St Brigid’s Cross, will agree.

Junction of Irish, Scotch and English Streets, Downpatrick

There are many excellent images to savour. Of whins: They switch their floodlights on from dawn … and the canopy of those gnarly and small woods; or a path which drowns face down in a foot of river … and the black baby… / (Her fists like tulips, the soles of her feet already ruched as maps) …

Available from Irish Street – templarpoetry in paperback 12.00 or hardback 14.99.

Poem in Poetry as Commemoration Jukeboxes

I am honoured and delighted to have my poem on the Irish Civil War among the 20 poems related to the Decade of Centenaries 1912 – 1922 that are featured in the Poetry As Commemoration Poetry Juke Boxes in Derry and Limerick from May to July this year.

The Irish Civil War, County Tipperary, Summer, 1922 describes an incident in which my mother, then a seven-year-old, was caught up. Her memories of violence influenced my experience of The Troubles.

New Poetry Jukebox Commemorates Complex Shared History in Derry~Londonderry

I’ve written about this in an earlier blog (below) which contains a link to the poem on the Virtual Poetry Wall of Poetry As Commemoration.

Poem in Poetry As Commemoration

You can listen to the poems featured in this curation here.

  1. ‘Ossuary’ by Seán Hewitt
  2. ‘Poppies In A Field Of Shamrocks’ by Nithy Kasa
  3. ‘The Belfast Pogrom: Some Observations’ by Paul Muldoon
  4. ‘Hogan, Grianghrafadóir’ by Aifric Mac Aodha & transl. by David Wheatley
  5. ‘Blood pulled my Shoe Off: The Birth of the Freestate in the Words of Máire Comerford’ by Martina Evans
  6. ‘Wound’ by Chiamaka Enyi Amadi
  7. ‘The Head of a Man’ by Stephen Sexton
  8. ‘Special Topics in Commemoration Studies: The Kerry Archives’ by Victoria Kennefick
  9. ‘The Lookout’ by Bebe Ashley
  10. ‘This Video Has No Sound’ by Padraig Regan
  11. ‘Faithful Comrade and Life Long Friend’ by Julie Morrissy
  12. ‘Telescope’ by Eoghan Totten
  13. ‘Without Fuss or Splutter’ by Ann-Marie Foster
  14. ‘Uncle Maurice’ by Ian Duhig
  15. ‘The Irish Civil War, Co. Tipperary, Summer 1922’ by Angela Graham
  16. ‘Bloody Sunday, 21st of November 1920, Croke Park’ by David McLoghlin
  17. ‘Cogadh na gCarad ó Bhéal mo mháthar’ by Mike MacDomhnaill
  18. ‘Eliza’ by Karl O’Hanlon
  19. ‘Yew’ by Karen J. McDonnell
  20. ‘Kingdom’ by Brian Kirk

Review of Sanctuary… in Nation Cymru

By Caroline Bracken:

Angela Graham’s poetry collection Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere is an interesting concept. As well as her own poems, it includes poems she wrote collaboratively with Phil Cope, Viviana Fiorentino, Mahyar and Csilla Toldy.

Her mentor Glen Wilson also contributed a poem, ‘Border Crossing, Reynosa to Hidalgo’, a gorgeous poem with more questions than answers:

‘There is buzzing behind the bevel of the two-way mirror,
I imagine the voices of the hidden judges there’

The collaborative poems all allow the contributing poets’ voices to shine and feel very different to Graham’s own. For example Mahyar’s ‘You’ is end-rhymed:

‘When I was drinking shot after shot

When I was reading Rubaiyat

When I was reading Khayyam’s couplets

When the book got wet with my tears’ droplets’

Csilla Toldy’s ‘Sanctum Trilogy’ is written in three sections, ‘Resistance’ ‘Refuge’ and ‘Resilience’ and is more experimental in form:

‘Forget the borders, tie up your tongue
here you are safe – between the walls of this place.
Stay put for now, We will decide –
wait
    w a i t
         w  a  i  t
            w   a  i   t’

Phil Cope gives us a panoramic, bird’s-eye sequence of the Welsh landscape:

‘A brace of peregrines, monogamous
though solitary throughout the year,
rendezvous up here each April,
drawn by this cliff’s magnetism,
egged on by legacy,
reliable in the knowledge of
a ledge, secure on Darren Fawr
to raise two chicks, then leave.’

Angela Graham’s wonderful poem ‘A Heerd tha Sodjer on tha Radio’ which won the Linen Hall Ulster Scots Writing Competition is included. Her other poems work best when they steer away from prose and allow the image to be seen, as in ‘Annunciation, Visitation’

After the angel left her what was the girl to do?
I see her stand, go to the window,
look out at the utterly familiar street.
A neighbour, jovial, passes and she smiles
─ too soon for speech. She looks down
at her utterly familiar hand
resting on the white stone sill.’

And ‘Persian New Year’

‘Let me give you gorse,
the ungraspable, the unlikely
solder-drops splattered on my hedges
by the sun torching its way out of winter.’

The last word goes to Viviana Fiorentino, from ‘In This Sanctuary’
‘You blue tit, jackdaw or young doe
you, overflow, the breaker of borders
of species, you know it will not matter
that you were males or females, your voice
is
singing’

 

Sanctuary reading at Sustainable Wales

I was delighted to read  from my poetry collection at arts space, The Green Room above Sustainable Wales’s colourful, intriguing shop, SUSSED Wales. This is an ethical community co-operative selling fair trade local and international goods in James Street, Porthcawl.  Commitment to a just food policy is a major focus. What better time than the start of

Fairtrade Fortnight

A special dinner will be held at Porthcawl’s Atlantic Hotel to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sustainable Wales. 8th March. Tickets here. Continue reading Sanctuary reading at Sustainable Wales

Poem in Poetry As Commemoration

As soon as I learned about Poetry as Commemoration I wanted to write something for it.

2022-2023 marks the centenary of one of the most challenging periods in Irish history including the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the establishment of the Free State and the ensuing Civil War. As we embark on this difficult phase of the Decade of Centenaries, Poetry as Commemoration invites communities to turn to poetry as a mode of understanding and expression.

It is an all-island initiative, organised by the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at University College Dublin and the Irish Government’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

My poem below is available to read on the site:

‘The Irish Civil War, County Tipperary, Summer, 1922’ by Angela Graham

Continue reading Poem in Poetry As Commemoration

My Creative First / Fy Ngham Creadigol Cyntaf

I’m a big fan of initiatives that connect people and enable sharing so I was very pleased to be interviewed by Carys Bradley-Roberts of Creative Cardiff.

Creative Cardiff is a network which connects people working in any creative organisation, business or job in the Cardiff region. By encouraging people to work together we believe that we can make Cardiff the most creative place it can be.

Creative Firsts puts the spotlight on people’s first ventures into creativity in a particular field. My Creative First has been moving from film and TV into the world of books via   Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere my poetry collection, and my short story collection A City Burning. I had a lot to learn.

I describe the experience in the interview here. 

Mae fe ar gael yn y Gymraeg hefyd / It’s available in Welsh too: Cam Creadigol Cyntaf

Take a look at other Creative Firsts here

Reading at The Murenger

I was delighted to be invited by Alan Roderick to read at The Murenger pub in Newport’s High Street.  The name is memorable.  The original murenger collected taxes that maintained the city’s defences in the medieval period. This monthly gathering is one of the most popular gigs for writers in south Wales and, of course, to add to its fame there is Jon Gower’s short story collection, The Murenger . 

It is wonderful to be among people who really love writing. There’s no mistaking the genuine commitment to the written word. In the Open Mic session we heard from regulars and a newcomer. The audience was attentive and responsive. and Alan Roderick is a generous and arm host. He gave me a copy of his poetry colleciton, ‘After You’d Gone’. At the station on my way home, I was engrossed in it and missed my train! Apart from that, what more could a writer want?

Continue reading Reading at The Murenger

NVTV profile of my Ulster-Scots poetry

Liam Logan interviewed me for a programme in his 8-part series on Ulster-Scots writing, ‘A MIGHTY MALLET’ made by Belfast cable channel Northern Visions (NVTV).

The series showcases the work of the Rhyming Weavers or Weaver Poets, working-class writers of the late 18th and early 19th century in the north of Ireland, who wrote in their vernacular and were influenced by Robert Burns. The programmes feature the work of James Orr, Samuel Thompson, Hugh Porter and John McKinley, David Herbison and Sarah Leech from Co Donegal, the only known female Irish weaver poet.

Liam Logan has added three contemporary writers in Ulster-Scots: Angeline King, Gary Morgan and myself.

The half-hour documentary on my work can be viewed here:

You can find the rest of the series at nvtv.co.uk Go to “on demand” and then “language”, “Ulster-Scots” . Continue reading NVTV profile of my Ulster-Scots poetry