A most entertaining evening
It was a most entertaining time in the Library for last evening's Culture Night contribution of readings by local writers in an Open Mic event, writes Brian Byrne.
Moderated by the ever-urbane Gerry O'Donoghue, who was credited also, whether accurately or not, with making the sandwiches, it was the variety of the readings no less than their quality that provided a heady mix of laughter, surprise, reminiscence and food for thought.
Sophie Rose Williamson opened preceedings with an extract from her book, 'Here Come the Girls', an account about how post-Celtic Tiger wife Amber's life needed fixing, and friends from her past came along to help. The extract placed Amber just before her wedding, where the seeds of future turbulence were already sprouting.
Emer Byrden's piece about the relationship between a grandfather and grandson cemented by a shared love of cigarettes was a poignant vignette in a railway station as they took a break with each other before heading off to the next stations in their respective lives.
An account of a fictional interaction between legendary bare-knuckle fighter Dan Donnelly and healing priest Fr John Moore was the basis for Ilona Blunden's reading of a long-standing work in progress to which she had recently returned. It was an intriguing and crafted piece that opened wider the lore around the fighter ... and who's to say it never happened?
Poet Pauline Fagan provided two pieces in her inimitably haunting and lyrical style, one a loving description of unknown to many details of The Curragh — "I though grass was grass/I was wrong/So many names" — and then a work in progress, 'At Hunting Brook', about an excursion by two girls to celebrate their birthdays, from a picnic on the dining room floor through imaginations to grass meadows and forests and the myriad life within them. It would take several hearings to go through the layers of her work, but each one would be worth it more than before.
Your editor contributed a piece of memoir, about shoe boxes and how they helped to bring us as children to places far further than even the Voyager spacecraft launched 36 years ago has so far managed to get to.
Then it was Mary Barber's turn, who entertained us with a quite wonderful account of 'doing' the Lough Derg penitiential, mixing with both hilarity and dashes of pathos her memory, notes made on the days and nights, and dollops of Wikipaedia in such a fun way that even this writer would be (almost) tempted to try what his mother did many times. Almost, only.
For Annmarie Miles, the occasion offered the opportunity to showcase two short pieces from an upcoming book. 'Remembering' is Arthur looking back on his life with his wife, at a time when he has to sometimes 'rock back and forth to smoothen out the creases in his brain'. In the short short genre, every one of us caught our breath at the conclusion. 'The Matchmaker' is another one of those pieces that every mother of sons will understand.
For Frank Morrow, the doings of Brannockstown are the normal stuff of his writing in rhyme. His 'The Referee' travels a little more generally but resonated with everyone who had an interest in football. He also gave a rendition of the song he wrote a while back, performed as 'The Grand River Liffey that flows through Kildare' at the recent River Festival by John Kelly.
Bernadette Melia's 'The Sewing Basket' was shortlisted for the Listowel Writers Week short story competition, and pins together the three generations of women of which she is in the middle. Memories made, making and to be made in the threads, needles, buttons, and pin-cushion in the basket of the title. Evocative and close to every mother's heart.
The finale came from John Martin, who provided from life an account of how interaction with the Revenue over the Local Property Tax could be surprisingly hilarious. He brought it together with his ability as an actor with the Kilcullen Drama Group to give us a suitably upbeat end to an evening for which Librarian Julie O'Donoghue and the County Kildare Library Service must, once again, be offered a heartfelt appreciation.
Roll on next year, but not too fast, because we have a lot of new stuff to write.
(All the pictures are here.)
