Woodbine Open Mic a brilliant night of craft and talent

Dawn Behan presents Anne Coakley with her writing prize.

It was like Sunday Miscellany on steroids, writes Brian Byrne. The rota of performers at the Woodbine Books Open Mic night presented an evening of excellent writing and music, in extraordinary variety. The full gamut of emotions and a world of experiences combined to make two hours of brilliant entertainment. 

The now annual summer event also marks the end of the season for the Woodbine Creative Writers Group, now in its third year of existence and forging ahead in enabling the members to develop their writing craft. And, as was very evident at the event, their confidence in their work and themselves. 

Woodbine proprietor Dawn Behan opened the evening on a sad note to mark the recent passing of one of the group's founding members, John Martin. "A brilliant writer and always so generous with his feedback," she recalled. "And he was always willing to go on first, so I didn't need to strong-arm someone else. We are all so much better off for having known him."

Amanda Durkan.

To begin the evening, prizes were handed out for a recent competition organised by the group, funded under the Brigid 1500 programme by Kildare County Council. The competition was judged by Ilona Blunden, a former moderator of the group who now teaches creative writing in Maynooth. Among the winners, who received books that were shortlisted in this year's An Post Book Awards, were Anne Coakley and Amanda Durkan. Both read their winning pieces, Anne her poem Rain with Love on the Cousane Gap, and Amanda her very dark flash fiction piece, Soft. 

Raven Evans.

The next presentation was from the youngest person present, Raven Evans, who read — with a presence beyond her years — four of her poems. In very skilled wordsmithing, she revealed colour and richness in nature to be found in various everyday environments. If it is her preferred direction, this young lady is going to create some writing waves in the coming years.

Charlie Gregova.

Charlie Gregova was next to the podium, with Swallow Song, a brooding piece about the discrepancy between instilled childhood belief and adult reality. This was followed by David Murray in his favourite fantasy space, this time about a broken knight finding redemption in a second chance. Moving from dark places, it was then Phil Cummins who returned us to the land of smiles with his beautifully acted monologue about his family's life with dogs and how they react to the moods and dynamics of the household.

David Murray.

Phil Cummins.

David Scott and Pud Barrett.

There was music then from David Scott and Pud Barrett, with some seriously listenable songs and guitar playing, their choices and presentation perfectly matched to the evening's intimate gathering — Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, Slip Away, The Fool on the Hill, and Saturday Night at the Movies.

Celia Murphy.

Celia Murphy's piece next, The Winding Stair, brought us to the famous Liffeyside bookshop-café, watching Dublin and the Ha'penny Bridge from its window and pondering on stories and ghosts from the past that live on in the night-time reflections on the river. Then there were three poems from Brian Fogarty, musing on literary pretension, the overload of modern life, and unrequited love.

Brian Fogarty.

Orla Ní Sheaghaidh.

Orla Ní Sheaghaidh presented one of her typically delicious pieces, about a plane flight from the mainland to Inishmore, mining her panic for comedy. Henry Murphy then did something similar with a mock email to a supervisor, this time building comedy out of officialese language seeking his due overtime payment. After that, we found where young Raven had likely got her writing inspiration, as her dad, Reuben Evans, read from Talisman the Unicorn, a story he had written in children's book form with, literally, hundreds of endings, each step in the road to them decided by periodically asking members of the audience a two-choice question about where to go next.

Henry Murphy.

Reuben Evans.

Geraldine Gahan.

Geraldine Gahan's memoir brought the listeners through her recollections of a multi-generational gardening family and what they had taught her about food self-sufficiency. Bernadette Murray provided a short poem, A Path of Memory, taking us from the happy games of youth to awareness of growing older in a tapestry of life to be carried on like the music notes of an old song. Bernie Ahearn's The Emerald Ballroom was an evocative recollection, from a newcomer to Kilcullen Open Mic nights, of rural community dancing in the times just before the showband era changed everything — romance and missed chances, shy men, family expectations, and relationships that might have been in a time when emigration was the only option for life change. A short poem from Anninka Shimshek described the images that come into her mind when she says colours out loud, including in other languages that she speaks.

Bernadette Murray.

Bernie Ahearn.

Anninka Shimshek.

Sean Corrigan.

Sean Corrigan, introduced by Dawn as another "brave soul who doesn't know anybody here", stepped up next with Do Not Call Me a Poet, a wonderfully crafted rap recalling college days when he was often introduced to friends as a poet, where his preference would have been just, "Sean plays GAA". You have to have been there to appreciate it. 

Mary Barber.

A piece from Mary Barber recalled the story of Thornton Lace, a famine-relieving enterprise established by an Englishwoman, Elizabeth Roberts, in a townland outside Kilcullen. A story now 'lost in the shadows of forgotten history' and waiting to be spoken of again 180 years later. Then Celia Murphy returned with a memoir of a lifelong passion and dream fulfilled when she got to visit Nashville, experiencing an almost childlike excitement as she toured the country music capital's landmarks. Kayleigh Treacy then read a poem, Twenty-three, which outlined an emotional path from a toxic relationship and emotional abuse to reclaiming autonomy.

Keyleigh Treacy.

A parting gift of a recipe for their favourite garlic bread, with a baked example, was given by Charlie Gregova, who is leaving after a year in Kilcullen, made "wonderful" by the writing group and involvement in many other parts of the community. Then David Murray, to dispel the 'unfortunate rumour' that he can only write fantasy, closed off the written presentations with a short poem, One Small Hour, about unspoken love and secret admiration. The event concluded with several other songs from David Scott and Pud Barrett, which included Blackbird, its theme of recovery and growth appropriate to much of the experience of the evening.

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