November Remembrance in Clare with The Three Legged-Stool Poets.



 
 




Guest Edward O Dwyer at Clare Poets Meeting



 

Maybe it was the installation of a poet in the Áras, the uncharacteristic intense November sunshine bathing the Clare county town or perhaps it was the oxygen of publicity for the meeting in the local press that drew  the largest gathering to date to Glór in Ennis for the monthly gathering of the Three Legged-Stool Poets on Saturday afternoon.   Young Limerick based poet Edward O Dwyer, as guest, opened the procedings and read a selection of poems beginning with We will Always Have Paris. Arthur Watson presided over the proceedings and there were something in the region of a dozen contributers with poems reflecting a range of themes at the open mike. Too many to mention all contributions but  I loved Jinny'Thomas' humourous extended metaphor, The Train of Thought. There  was a lyrical quality to Rosemary Power's lovely translations.  Noel Harrington who will be guest poet next month gave a glimpse of what to expect in Apologies to Teenagers No. 2. Fred Johnson made some thought provoking observations on the response of poets to politics in Possibilities of the Sonnet . Patrick's Stack's poems had an anti war theme and Michael Reeve's poem drew on ballroom dance forms tango and rhumba in his offering. 

Poets Joe Cronin & Peter Kay and a blogger



In our thoughts was the late Brendan O Beirne who was guest poet  when I first played for the group. Can it really be a year since  Julie Feeney  delighted the group with her songs in memory of the late Brecan Mooney.

      
  





As musical guest today, I had the privilege of punctuating the procedings with some musical interludes. Taking the theme of remembrance, I thanked the Clare Poets for their help in recording my grandmother, Helen Sheehan's poems earlier this year and offered two of her favourite tunes as an opener. Later I played a movement from a solo Bach suite, perhaps the musical equivalent of a sonnet and the signature music for Bowman on Sunday, based on radio archives. I   paired the Courante with the theme Gabriel's Oboe , Oboe being the title of one of O Dwyer's collections. For a close to the procedings, picking up the World War One theme I played the popular melody for Roses of Pickardy.

Eamonn an Chnoic                 Irish Air          
Andulko                                  Czech Folksong
Courant
  Cello Suite no 1 G major     Bach
Gabriel's Oboe                       Morricone
Roses of Pickardy                 Haydn Wood/ Weatherly

More info on the group's activities can be found on  http://www.clarepoets.com/

Remembering Clare's Fallen Victims of World War 1 : Exhibition compiled by Peadar McNamara continues until November 30th at Clare Museum , Ennis