Box Room and Mrs Quinn's - Periphery Stuff

(Red Leather Jacket by Waterfall)

I know I’m going back a month, but have got to share about my pub box room and Mrs Quinn’s Charity shop in Listowel ….among other things.

I was staying in a very nice box room above a pub…with a great line in music each night! On my first night there, Sunday, it was the fields of Athenry, live, and most singularly by my eardrum as I lay myself down to sleep.

On Monday night, there was a peaceful break and pure bliss. I’m bonding fondly with my box room at this stage. But, ahoy captain, because on Tuesday, it was a rock jamming session, determined guitarists and no string too weak to jam with, till near crack of dawn.

On Wednesday morning, I noticed the pub had put up a poster saying ‘All musicians welcome’ ….how speedy! I thought and was left wondering what eclectic mix I was in for on Wednesday night.

Luckily, we were out till 1 am ourselves and when we returned it was so quiet that we expected eruptions at any minute – you know that type of silence where it is too good to be true and totally untrustworthy. I could hardly sleep for the silence…but yes, loved the musical miscellany of boarding above an Irish pub.

Across the road from my box room was Mrs Quinn’s charity shop. Had I known about this shop beforehand, I would have left my case at home and relied totally on the great clothes Mrs Quinn sold…as it was, I couldn’t resist a red leather jacket (4€) which I duly wore whenever I could, regardless of the heat-wave that saw fit to come within an hour of my buying the jacket. The red leather jacket became like my lucky mascot jacket, I took it everywhere – be it on my back or on the back of a chair, but it was there – a little like a baby’s comfort blanket, so to speak! : )

A few more gems from Mrs Quinn’s charity shop: a signed copy of Billy Collins’ poetry book: Nine Horses, in hardback. (2€)

Walt Whitman’s poetry book – Song of Myself - with a great inscription: ‘
when unsure, read this, love Greg’ (2€)

A Frank O’ Connor short story book and a book of short stories by Edna O’ Brien – I left both these books at a friend’s in Ireland in order to read them when I return in August.

All in all, a jam-packed time…and this was supposedly the periphery stuff. Some of the main stuff being: the discovery, on my part, of a writer named
James Kelman ...more on him later...and not to mention the very nice restaurants and pubs of Listowel too! : )

Salt Author Page and The Wrong Miracle Web Page

My Salt author page is now up plus The Wrong Miracle title webpage with photo and bio...the pdf of sample poems won't be ready yet for a while...(back to a celebratory cup of tea with things looking good for a celebratory vino or two this evening....: ))

The Wrong Miracle Cover and Update...

...I love the cover, thanks to Chris for choosing it!

There have been a few different things happening regarding The Wrong Miracle lately...

* Over a month ago, it looked as if there would be no book and now everything is in all-systems-go mode again thanks to Chris and everyone at Salt for their great gusto and spirit and thanks to friends and family who have rallied round and bought some terrific Salt books. I'm awaiting the delivery of two short story books
Elizabeth Baines' Balancing on the Edge of the World and
Vanessa Gebbie's Words from a Glass Bubble and I cannot wait ....I have a less hectic work schedule now until July so am planning to have many afternoons swinging on the hammock that I rarely get to sit on and relishing in reading these books and others.

* Feet and Mouth and Shoes is the winning poem from the Listowel Writers' Single Poem competition and is in The Wrong Miracle and also in the Listowel Writers' Winners Anthology. ...I'm not too sure how one goes about getting the anthology so must enquire.

* Another poem from The Wrong Miracle called Spring the Life Fandango will be published in a forthcoming issue of The Stinging Fly.

* The author photos are done and awaiting zipping to Salt. I'm having some problems doing this but hoping to get to the bottom of it sooon.

* I've received the 4th proofs from Chris at Salt today and think they might be the last proofs... : )!

* The author webpage is underway - if you go to the Salt author page you can see a description of the book and the list of poems and a sample poem and the blurbs. The author photo and biography and pdf of sample poems have yet to be put up there. I'm getting excited at this stage and if I knew my Irish dancing jigs like all decent Irish girls should, I would be tap, tap, tapping goodo...but am settling for jumping up and down instead! ; )

A New Kind of Book Review

(Leaving Kerry - Trees in a Row)

(Red House - Dingle)


Tim Green of RATTLE has an excellent write-up in his blog about the need to have a new type of book review.

I totally agree with Tim and find the idea of such a book review really refreshing and inspiring. I have never done an official poetry book review as such but would actually enjoy giving this type of poetry book review a go....as a matter of fact, after having bought 5 new poetry titles from SALT, I am going to experiment with reviewing one book (or maybe more...depending on time) in this way and post it here.

This is what he says about the style that RATTLE would prefer to use for their book reviews from now on.

With all prose, RATTLE prefers a personal narrative style, and this is especially applicable with reviews. Poetry is a fundamentally subjective art -- the experience is always too intimate for absolute truth. Each reader brings their own baggage of aethetic tastes, personal histories, and present moods; even our own opinions can change drastically over time. Far too often our discussion of poetry ignores this fact, and we act as if it's possible for one person's reaction to be universal.

In an effort to overcome this schism, we ask that reviewers bring in as much of their personal experience with the text as possible. Tell us why you picked it up in the first place — did you know the poet, were you drawn to the cover, the title, what was it? Where did you read it? How long did it take? Were you transported immediately or did you daydream? Where did your thoughts drift? Which poems resonated with you and why? The speaker in the poem reminded you of your sister? Your experience of Brazil was different? You’re growing tired of poems about divorce? Why is that? Anecdotes and tangents are encouraged -- be creative! Personal stories make the reviews more entertaining to read at the same time as they make them more accurately reflect what poetry actually is.

What do you think of this type of book review? Is it more interesting/relevant...?
Would you be interested in reviewing like this? (Even better, would you like to join me in this experiment and choose a book to review like this...? ): )

P.S. For Reading Out Loud

(me!)

I had forgotten completely to mention that a few days before the Introductions Readings in The Irish Writers Centre, Poetry Ireland got in touch with those of us who were doing the reading on the last Introductions night and asked if we would give permission to be recorded for The Arts Show on RTE 1 Radio. Naturally, I gave permission but put it to the back of my mind as didn't want the extra strain of adding another 'first time' to the whole event...it wasn't a case of the whole evening being recorded, each of us had to go with the radio guy to a quiet room and read one poem on our own and be recorded. I read 'Signs' which was published in The Stinging Fly last Autumn. I'm not sure when the recordings will be on The Arts Show, if at all...I've checked the last two shows and there is no mention in the write up of the readings, if I hear anything I will mention it here.

For Reading Out Loud (2)

(Pink houses in a sunny Ireland )

(Shamrock)

My 15 minute reading included the following poems:

1. A Lady in the Bath with Angels (Late, late show, angels, hunkyness)

2. Sing me a Sort of Lily-the-Pink Song (liquer, inner-self, smoothie kiss, clover)

3. Sunday with Ritual (childhood memories, The Brylcream Bounce, show-them-I'm-a-lady, HB Neapolitan ice-cream)

4. Compartmentalise (unrechargeable batteries, glove compartment of car, The Joker, Batwoman)

5. Feet and Mouth and Shoes (Iraq journalist, show-throwing incident, barefootedness, steeping feet, catwalks, platform shoes)Listowel Winning Poem

6. Sometimes When You Are Bent Over Chopping Leeks (red carpet, lucky stars, conquering the world )

The amazing thing was that I found myself enjoying reading very much, maybe it had to do with the fact that the room was awash with that gorgeous evening light or maybe from the sheer relief of actually being up there at last ...and most definitely from seeing smiling familiar faces.

I tried to keep to humorous poems with shots of surprise! One funny incident was when I was looking towards my friends, I could see one was wearing her sunglasses and I remember thinking 'funny, her wearing them indoors'...the other was when I saw three or four other friends with their heads down and I thought 'Oh my god, am I shaming the life out of them!' Apart from these miscellaneous thoughts, I kept going and remembered thinking 'This isn't too bad!'

It was afterwards that, to my great relief, I discovered the reason behind the head-bowing-friends, apparently because of the very unusual and glorious evening, the sun was setting behind my head as I was reading in front of a georgian window... the evening-halo-affect was in full-swing and the people who were straight down from me and looking right towards the window were being blinded by the sun and could not actually look at me or make out my face hence the lowered heads... they said it was quite uncanny hearing my voice but being unable to see me clearly, just a wispy halo affect...hope this isn't a sign that I've become the poet with the blinding affect....vroom, vroom! ; )

For Reading Out Loud...

(Black Sheep)

(Not a Runner)


(Not a Runner Either)

I am no longer a virgin in the poetry-reading arena....I DID it and lived to tell the tale!
The Poetry Ireland Introductions Readings took place in The Writers Centre in Parnell Square in Dublin. The day was glorious and sunny, I ambled up from Listowel courtesy of Bus Êireann and was able to doze by the window with intermittent staring out of said-window to admire the green, green grass and very bouncy white lambs and baskets of hanging flowers. I got to Dublin at about 3 pm, the reading was to begin at 6.30 pm. I was meeting my brother who lives in Taiwan and had been in Donegal for the week and who would be returning to Taiwan the following day. He was treating us to a night in a hotel with all the trimmings. I had the hotel address and off I went to seek it out and could not believe my eyes when I saw that the hotel was now part of a live music venue - 'Break For The Border', a place where I hung out quite a lot in the 90s ....it was strange checking-in, mid-afternoon, to a place where it was difficult to check-out of in the wee small hours way back then....

It was luxury, indeed. I treated myself to the second shower of the day and a cup of home brew tea from the bedroom tea-maker. My brother arrived and we swapped stories and then suddenly it was time to go...I did find myself saying to my brother that I wondered how I got myself into these situations where I put myself on the line and partake in wobbly-knee feelings beforehand.

We decided to take a taxi to the venue even though it would only have been a 10 minute walk. The taxi drove in a slow convoy-like manner and the talk was amusing ....I had even managed to put the reading completely out of my head and in doing so kept a cool, cool head.

We got to The Writers Centre and I remember thinking - if you are going to run, the time is now, if not, go in there and do the best job you can ...luckily, I opted for not running away.

The place in itself is just magnificent - it is a beautiful Georgian building and the reading room was just full of atmosphere...early evening sunshine and a table laid out with wine and shiny glasses. I met two of the other poets and friends that I had not seen in a long time were there - that so made my day and I found myself really relaxing, surprisingly enough - at this stage I must admit to having partaken in a good few sprays of Bach's rescue remedy and it has to be said that Bach does what it says on the bottle: `relieves and comforts` - just the ticket, not exactly to the moon, but to a sort of nice easy-feeling place called whatever-you-need-it-to-be-called-at-the-time...

(To Be Continued... ; ))

33% Off All Salt Books Till the End of June

Update: Jen, at Salt has this to say about the JUST ONE BOOK Campaign

JUST ONE BOOK

As a thank you for your support of us this first week of our Just One Book campaign we're offering you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June.

Simply use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit.

The offer applies to our UK & International and USA shops.

We have now raised £24,000 or our £55,000 target. Do please continue to spread the word about the campaign and this offer.

Thank you for everything you're doing to help us save our business and continue publishing.
Best from everyone at Salt

And The Guardian Website has this to say about Salt's Campaign

And Watch this YouTube video of the Just One Book Campaign ....priceless! : )

Salt’s Just One Book Campaign and TweetBomb

Salt Publishing has a 'Just One Book' Campaign in which to gather funds to keep operating. A few weeks ago it looked as if Salt might not be able to publish its list of books for 2009, The Wrong Miracle of which is one of these books, thanks to Chris’s innovative and energetic campaign, it looks as if the 2009 list will get published. I have treated myself to 3 Salt books and must admit to be enjoying very much these writers:

Rob A. Mackenzie
Luke Kennard
Simon Barraclough
They are definitely well worth checking out.

Another idea that Salt have launched is called TweetBomb….Chris has this to say:

Just a reminder that those wanting to take part in the TweetBomb tomorrow at 2 pm need to follow the instructions here:

Sounds interesting.

I'm Back...

...with new Internet provider, new laptop ....newness is brimming out all over...have missed reading all your blogs. I am just about to have a well-deserved night-cap and cruise blogs till my heart's content.
Loads to write about - just wondering where to begin. Back tomorrow with 'new beginnings' gusto. (Phew! I feel like I've taken part in some 'Knockout' competition and I've just come round after being majorly knocked-out! : ))