Touch Grass they say these days: step away from the computer and get in touch with the real world that is beginning to grow outside. And what knows more about touching grass than a corncrake?
Sometimes, as with a wildflower meadow, all you can do is prepare the ground and wait to see what turns up.
It has taken it’s time in coming: the Boxopera exhibition in Ballinamallard, originally planned for Summer, finally took place on a wild December day. Here, deservedly are six poems from that exhibition: Left Behind, Bloody Friday 1972, Reclamation, The Back Field, Loughan, What the Bee Sees and The Old Graveyard.
At that exhibition, I learned from Ted Bowman about bibliotherapy – the use of books and stories in psychiatric therapy. Lately, as I explain in Tell Me a Story, I have been discovering the power of the oral tradition. Both Mary Mc Elroy and I competed in the Ulster heat of the All-Ireland Slam, and here too is her excellent Waiting for the Cavalry.
The Enniskillen Library exhibition is ongoing, and includes two poems featured here, Library by Amanda May and my own Among Books, as well as Seamas Mac Annaidh’s meditation Rainy Day Books. And, as usual, we also have work from other poets beyond Fermanagh in Corncrake, Wraparound Cardigan, and In Google Meadow.
We thank you for your continued support, and hope that both Enniskillen Library and Fermanagh Writers will be able in turn to support the community for many more years.
Jenny Brien
Image: Kilmaccurragh Wildflower Meadow
