The Fingal Poetry Festival 2024 takes place from 13th to 15th September 2024 in the beautiful seaside town of Skerries in North County Dublin. I’m delighted to be reading from my latest poetry collection Hare’s Breath (Salmon Poetry, 2023) at an event in Ardgillan Castle Library at lunchtime on Sunday 15th September. The reading follows directly after the Poetry Walk through Ardgillan Park, led by poet Damien Donnelly at 11am, which will round off this year’s festival.
Ardgillan Castle
I’m particularly grateful to Festival Curator, Enda Coyle-Green, for inviting me to read as I grew up just down the road in Rush and a number of the poems featured in Hare’s Breath draw on memories and impressions of growing up in that part of the world. I haven’t lived there in over thirty years so it will be a kind of homecoming for me and for the poems. I hope that you can join me for the celebration. Entry to the event is free but you can book your tickets in advance here.
I was honoured to be asked to launch Anton Floyd’s new poetry
collection ‘Depositions’ on World Refugee Day 20th June 2022. Anton
is a fine poet and good friend, and his new collection is an important and
impressive achievement, concerned as it is with the traumatic experience of
exile and displacement.
The
core of the collection consists of 120 tercets borrowing something from
the haiku/senryu format, a selection of which has been translated into 20
languages, many by people who have a direct experience of displacement. This
short form section seeks to articulate the experiences of asylum seekers at
each stage of the experience, the trauma, both in physical as well
as psychological terms. There are longer poems at the beginning and
end of the collection that meditate on war and the aftermaths of conflict. The
final section consists of a group of poems about the current tragic
situation in Ukraine.
Two
songs also feature in the collection, Love in a Time of War and
Peace Will Come, the latter striking
a hopeful note at the end of the collection. The music for both songs was composed
by Bulgarian maestro, Alex Zografov.
Anton’s
wife Carole Anne and his son Aodhán, (both artists) designed Anton’s first
collection Falling into Place (Revival Press) and have now,
between them, designed the cover for Depositions. Carole
Anne made the painting and Aodhán the layout of the jacket.
The
Ukraine crisis has tragically given the collection an added
relevance. The founder of The Pharos Arts Foundation in Nicosia, Garo Keheyan,
(https://www.pharosartsfoundation.org) has agreed to a Cyprus launch
in October 2022 in collaboration with the Irish ambassador there. There’ll be a
launch in Limerick and one in Cork also. The launch in Dublin is supported by
UNHCR – Ireland. The agency will place Depositions on its list
of recommended books and all proceeds from sales will support the work of UNHCR
– Ireland.
This year in October the Red Line Book Festival celebrates 10 years with a huge range of events, some in person, some virtual. You can view the full programme here.
I’m so happy to be hosting a real live event in the Civic Theatre (my first live event in a long time!) celebrating the short story with authors Deirdre Sullivan and Lucy Caldwell. We’ll hear short readings from both writers and then we’ll get down to the business of the short story, what it is and how it works. ‘The Beauty of Brevity’ takes place on Monday 11th October at 7pm and you can book your tickets here.
The festival is always a cracker and it will run up until 17th October. I intend to see as many events as I can during the week and there’s so much to choose from with events featuring the likes of Colm Tóibín, Kevin Power, Jane Robinson, Nell Regan, Lynn Buckle, Catherine Dunne, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Mary Dorcey, Moya Cannon, Victoria Kennefick, Jessica Traynor, Aoife Lyall, Amanda Bell, Eleanor Hooker, David Butler, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Eimear Ryan, Anrew McMillan, Seán Hewitt and many many more.
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic.
“Metaxu” is the tenth poem in the sequence and the form this time is rhyming couplets. I came across the notion of metaxu when I was reviewing a poetry collection late last year. The concept appears in a range of writings, some religious, but is probably most notably espoused by the philosopher, Simone Weil.
Considering man’s relationship with God, she writes:
” Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link. “
In the same way I was struck by the way we have been living at a distance this last year and yet there is a strong sense of community, mutual support and connection.
Once again, the film was made by my good friend Pete McCluskey and he also delivers the poem with perfect pacing. The space he allows around the words here is very well controlled I think. He imposes a break before the final four couplets which adds I think to the impact of closing lines of the poem.
I thought the end of 2020 might see the end of the sequence, but I think we might continue for a little longer. It seems only fitting that we should in the circumstances.
Until the next time, enjoy the poems and stay safe!
Brian Kirk
Dublin
22nd November 2020
Acknowledgements
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.
Every year around this time I compile a roundup of
what I’ve done from a writing point of view during the old year. In many ways
this year has been like no other, but I’ve been lucky in that I’ve managed to
continue to write and publish new work throughout the year. Thanks to the
support of family and writer friends I’ve been able keep going in this time of worry
and uncertainty.
One of the main things I did this year was enabled by
a Covid 19 bursary from the Arts Council. To date I have written twelve formal
poems as part of a sequence dealing with the effects on family, the individual
and community in coping with the restrictions imposed as part of dealing with
the pandemic. I’ve been lucky to have my daughter, Martha, and my good friend,
Pete McCluskey, making films for these new poems throughout the year. So far
there are nine poetry films which can be viewed on YouTube.
Here’s a rundown of everything writing-related that
happened for me in 2020, a year in which I published three new short stories
and fourteen poems.
My short story Do You Play County? was shortlisted for the Doolin Short Story Prize in January.
In April I was awarded an Arts Council Bursary to write a sequence of formal poems focusing on the theme isolation and impacts on community and family arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic. The poems with accompanying films began appearing on my blog and other social media in June 2020.
My short story Do You Play County?was published at Fictive Dream in November 2020.
My short story The Tourist was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2020 in October.
In December I was granted an Arts Council Professional Development Award to take up an eight-month novel writing course with Faber Academy in January 2021.
Although actual readings were out of the question this
year, I did a number of virtual readings including The Holding Cell in April, launch
of Skylight 47 in July, North West Words in August, Fiction at The Friary in
October, readings from The Music of What Happens in November, Ó Bhéal
Winter Warmer in November and the launch of 14 Magazine in December.
Bray Literary Festival went ahead as a purely online
festival and was a big success with high viewer numbers thanks to sterling work
by founder and Director, Tanya Farrelly and the rest of the committee: David
Butler, Nessa O’Mahony, Phil Lynch, Edward O’Dwyer and myself. Special mentioned
needs to be given to Peter Salisbury whose technical skill and expertise gave life
to a festival which would otherwise have died in this challenging year. The
committee has decided to take a break in 2021 and Bray Literary Festival will
return in 2022.
I read so much this year and enjoyed a good portion of it, but I’ve limited my choices of books of the year to just three, one in each category. My novel of the year was the wonderfully expansive story of a life and art Oona (Lilliput Press) by Alice Lyons. For short story collection I chose Almost the Same Blue (Doire Press) by John O’Donnell for the range and detail of the stories. For poetry I chose Some Lives (Dedalus Press) by Leeanne Quinn, for the control and sureness of voice and that wonderful long title poem.
Plans for 2021
In 2021 I hope to find a publisher for my short story
collection What Do You Actually Want? I’m also working towards finalising
my second poetry collection (title yet to be decided). Work is well underway on
this now and I hope to publish more new poems during the coming year which will
form part of the manuscript. I plan to bring my formal poetry film sequence Freedom
In Constraint to a close in early 2021. Again, thanks to the Arts Council
for funding this project. To date I have written twelve poems, nine of which
have been filmed so far. I expect there will be fifteen when the sequence is
complete.
My main area of work this year will be on my novel in progress, working title Riverrun. I received a Professional Development Award from the Arts Council in December to cover the cost of an online novel writing course with the Faber Academy. The course runs from January to September 2021 and I’m hoping it will give me the tools to make my novel as good as it can be. I see it as a long-term investment also as I’m sure the techniques and skills I learn will stand to me as I take on further writing projects in the future. A very exciting prospect!
Finally, this year has been a peculiar and challenging
year in many ways. I know I’ve been lucky and I’m thankful for that. I hope for
all our sakes that our lives can return to something like normality during 2021.
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic.
“Letting Go” is the ninth poem in the sequence. The form this time is Ottava Rima, another Italian form, and one favoured by Dante. As we move towards winter, this poem considers the passing of the summer and the approach of autumn living with the restrictions we’ve been burdened with in this peculiar year. Autumn was always my favourite season, partly because of the colours of nature but also the sense of a settling down to winter which is peculiarly attractive for those of us who quite like staying home.
Again, the film was made by my good friend Pete McCluskey and he also delivers the poem with perfect pacing. The chosen sound track plays an important role here in its repetitive simplicity and also its insistence which brings a sense of lingering menace
We’re getting near the end of the year now and also the end of the sequence. Still a few more to do, so back to work soon. Until the next time, enjoy the poems and stay safe!
Brian Kirk
Dublin
22nd November 2020
Acknowledgements
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic.
“Staying Home” is the fourth poem in the sequence. This villanelle was written in the first month of lockdown and was published online at pendemic.ie. The film was made by my friend Peter McCluskey and he also reads the poem in this case, bringing his vocal skills to bear with remarkable effect I think.
Next week I hope to try another poetic form as we move through the sequence. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy. Stay safe!
Brian Kirk,
Dublin
23rd July 2020
Acknowledgements
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic.
“Sea Dream” is the third poem in the sequence and again my daughter Martha has made a short film to accompany it. In the early part of lockdown the restrictions on travel made it impossible to drive to the sea or beach. I know it’s a small deprivation in the scheme of things, but somehow it was acutely felt.
Next week we’ll move away from the sonnet form and try something different. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy. Stay safe!
Brian Kirk,
Dublin
14th June 2020
Acknowledgements
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic. The requirement to socially isolate is a particularly measured response to the threat of the spread of the virus taken by Government. It does not feel normal or natural for us as social beings to be removed from those we love. Writing poetry in itself could be considered to be an unnatural way of responding to the challenges of life in general. Lyric poetry in particular, in its employment of heightened language, its use of imagination, its brevity and concision, can be seen as an attempt to map the individual experience of the poet onto the general consciousness. If successful, such poetry can console, encourage, empower and provoke questions. The employment of rhyme and metre can be seen as further evidence of poetry’s artifice. But is artifice a bad thing in itself? Every art created, high and low, from opera to popular song, uses just such techniques and we have no problem accepting and enjoying them.
In this peculiar and uncertain time there has developed a paradoxical sense of community among people who at the same time are living at a distance from each other. I have attempted to create poems which are formally constrained and which reflect the current restrictions, and which, at the same time, reach out to others in order to act as a curative to those who crave structure in these problematic times. This strikes me as an appropriate artistic response in a time of crisis. I hope I have succeeded.
The first poem in the sequence is a sonnet New Day. My daughter Martha has made a short film to accompany the poem which you can view below.
I intend to upload new poems every week or so until I reach the end of the sequence. I hope you enjoy them. Stay safe!
Brian Kirk,
Dublin
June 2020
Acknowledgements
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.
Next Monday 7th November sees the fourth in a series of six of readings in Tallaght Library by emerging local writers. The event is hosted again by award winning local author Eileen Casey. Proceedings kick off at 7pm.
Next Monday’s readers are Tom Hanrahan, Mervyn Ennis, Susan Condon and Eithne Cavanagh. Susan was recently a featured author in the Echo Newspaper here. Good on ya Susan!
Author Bios
As Tom Hanrahan’s career life draws to a close, he feels filled with hope, gratitude and anticipation for tasting the good wine served last. His writing history began when he was encouraged to write many years ago by a compassionate soul.
Mervyn Ennis was born in Tallaght in 1950. Mervyn has had his poetry recognised in Irish and British awards and in Irish, British, Italian, and Australian publications. His collection of short stories Once upon a time in Tallaght is his first venture into prose. Mervyn Lives in Saggart.
Susan Condon was awarded first prize in the 2010 SCC, Short Story Competition, with ‘The Visit’. Her short story, ‘Cinderella’s Smile,’ was published in Senior Times 2011. Susan is a member of Platform One, Rua Red and is currently working on her first novel – a psychological thriller.
Eithne Cavanagh’s two books of poetry Bone and Petals and An Elegance of Gannets were published by Swan Press. She has received several awards for poetry including the Boyle Prize and the Moore Literary Medallion. Eithne lives inDublin.
Looks like a great line up! Hope to see you there.
Brian Kirk is a poet, short story writer, playwright and novelist from Dublin, Ireland. His work has appeared in the Sunday Tribune, Crannog, The Stony Thursday Book, Revival, Boyne Berries, Wordlegs and various anthologies.
Brian's first poetry collection, After The Fall, is published by Salmon Poetry.
