The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Proclaiming poetry from the pulpit
IF it did nothing other than rekindle a love of poetry among the audience it would have been worth its weight in gold.
Deirdre Walsh’s ‘Poetry from The Pulpit’ event in St John’s on Thursday raised enough to provide for a key facility upgrade at the Kerry Hospice Foundation’s new In Patient
Unit and it’s fair to say it far surpassed the expectations of the Radio Kerry presenter .
It was a simple premise that paid off in spades: Take a handful of well-known supporters of the Hospice, ask them to read one or two of their favourite poems on stage and probe them gently as to what the verses meant to them.
Deirdre’s interviewing skills sure brought the very best out of the night.
“We had a great mixture of the serious and the light-hearted and people seemed to really enjoy it, even those who came for the Hospice rather than the poetry said afterwards that they couldn’t get over how much they loved it,” Deirdre told The Kerryman.
Among the panel were Kerry legends Dara Ó Cinnéide and
Liam Hassett, former ROI manager Eoin Hand, RTÉ newsman Paschal Sheehy, former Writers’ Week chair Joanna Keane O’Flynn, Radio Kerry’s Jerry O’Sullivan and Elaine Kinsella. Kerry Rose Sally Ann Leahy and an actual living poet of renown in Gabriel Fitzmaurice. It seemed the line-up pretty much had all aspects of public life covered.
And the panel certainly seemed to cover all genres of poetry, from the Romantics to the modern.
St Michael’s College Deputy Principal Liam Hassett even brought a budding poet to deserved greater acclaim.
“Liam was so funny. One of the poems he read was a lovely one by a former student of St Michael’s College, Wayne Dowling, called The St Michael’s Scholar. It went down a treat with everyone!”
Among the poems former ROI manager and Moyvane resident Eoin Hand opted for was one of the nation’s favourites - WB Yeat’s Lake Isle of Innisfree. There can’t be too many poems are famililar to generations of Irish students, but Eoin managed to renew them with a fresh touch in his deliver.
It was a beloved Irish bard of an older Irishgeneration Kerry Rose Sally Ann went for in Percy French, performing a wonderful rendition of his ‘Ach, I Don’t Know’.
Joanna Keane O’Flynn meanwhile had them all rolling in the aisles as she channelled the brilliance of west Limerick poet Michael Hartnett and his uproarious ‘On Those Who Stole our Cat, A Curse’.
Such was the panel it could even boast one of the night’s chosen wordsmiths as Dara Ó Cinnéide picked Gabriel Fitzmaurice’s At the Ball Game – a theme that obviously resonated intensely with the Cuas man.
Indeed, it seemed the night resonated intensely with everyone.
“It was a very different night and format, as each panel member came up and chatted to me before reading their chosen poems. Poetry isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the response was hugely positive and I’m looking at repeating it next year, hopefully.”
“You couldn’t ask for a better venue and town than St John’s and Listowel when it comes to putting something like this on after all,” Deirdre said.