The launch of The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work takes place on Tuesday 20th October 2015 at the Teachers Club on Parnell Square at 7pm. This is the first anthology by the members of the Hibernian Poetry Group and it will be launched by Macdara Woods, editor of Cyphers. The group was formed back in 2010 following a Faber and Faber workshop and I joined in September 2013. In the past I was never one for joining groups, but over the last two years I’ve tried to attend as many of the monthly meetings as possible.
The obvious advantage to being in a group is the motivation to create new work on a regular basis. A group that has quality poets also makes you push yourself that little bit further before you submit your poem for discussion each month. Nobody wants to be an ugly duckling among swans, that’s only natural. But there’s so much more to be gained from the group dynamic. You learn to talk about your work and that of others, and that in itself is a whole new skill. Saying you like or dislike something is not enough; you must be able to tease out verbally the roots of your concern or admiration. This is a really important aptitude for every poet or writer.
The feedback on your own work would seem to be the single greatest benefit to the poet, but not so. The real gain I’ve found is in the rigorous interrogation of other people’s work. The learned habit of scrutinising poems objectively is carried into the process of creating your own poems and this, for me, has been the real measure of development in my own work.
There are twenty three poets in the anthology and each poet has three poems featured. Just have a look at the list of names of contributors and you’ll get an idea of the quality of work to expect. Please come along on the 20th October, listen to the poems, have a drink and buy the book. I’m sure you won’t regret it.
MARK BAKER • GERALDINE CLARKSON • KEVIN CONROY • EVAN COSTIGAN • SINÉAD COTTER • PHILIP CUMMINS • MAURICE DEVITT • KIERAN FUREY • DONAL GORDON • ELEANOR HOOKER • BRIAN KIRK • SUSAN LINDSAY • PATRICK MADDOCK • MYRA MCAULIFFE • AFRIC MCGLINCHEY • GILES NEWINGTON • BARBARA O’SHEA • MAEVE O’SULLIVAN • LEEANNE QUINN • JANE ROBINSON • JOHN SAUNDERS • ANNETTE SKADE • BREDA WALL RYAN
