I work part time and I work all hours. Yesterday we were finalising the Trócaire and Poetry Ireland competition. We had six categories – there were three judges, so there was compromise.
It is hard to decide. I feel so sorry for those that come close – they will never know.
My role is to make poetry accessible and forge links with the inner city community. I run two or three workshops daily, so there is a lot of preparation.
Every Monday I put out poetry prompts on Twitter and Facebook with a photo. At the weekend I take photographs I feel will stimulate people to write. It can get exhausting, but feels worth it.
I also write commissioned work for Poetry Ireland, academic articles, poetry and songs.
My poetry writing slowed during Covid. Going to events and being around other people galvanises me and without that I was letting the poems percolate much longer.
I came to obsess about my garden – it is only tiny but I would check every day to see what was coming up.
Years ago I worked as a radio producer in RTÉ and I’m still addicted to current affairs. I always need to get the next update and often get ideas from the news for my poems.
Food is a big thing for myself and my Italian-American husband. We love travelling, especially to Italy, wandering down backstreets to find restaurants. I am looking forward to doing that again.
Freedom of expression
I was academic at school but very restless. When I studied English at Trinity I found my kindred spirits.
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin was an influence and David Norris. His lectures were legendary. I loved the old English, the High and Middle English. I did Latin at school and loved the roots of words.
I was born in Drogheda but moved to Dublin when my dad got a job with ESB. He was one of 16 children and we would visit Drogheda once a week. My uncle Gerry Cullen is part of the voice squad and was instrumental in the 60’s and 70’s in the revival of ballads, and I really got into this and ended up doing a PhD in Middlesex on how the ballad influenced my own work.
After college I got a job in the Barbican in London as an art gallery attendant. I had worked in the Douglas Hyde gallery through college and loved that environment though I was no expert.
When I returned to Ireland a neighbour suggested I do a traineeship they knew of in PR. I was terrible at it. Even though I love working with people, always having to give a spin was not my thing. I finished up and they were glad to see the back of me.
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Building blocks
I applied to be an assistant for Dublin city libraries and for three years would cycle to where I was needed – Ballymun, Tallaght , Ringsend. I loved knowing the workings of libraries, the classification system all contributes to the enjoyment of books.
I gave freelance journalism a go, writing for the Tribune – everything from advertorials to arts reviews until a job came up in Aertel. It was just starting up. We had to condense news into a few lines – great for my sub-editing skills, we were tweeting pre-Twitter.
I had great colleagues such as Katie Hannon and it was good fun. My first love was radio and I would do shifts there from time to time and after three years transferred to work on The Pat Kenny Show, Drivetime, Rattlebag, Liveline. I’m not bad under pressure.
I left RTÉ because of my restive spirit. I had published my first children's book and wanted to give more time to writing. I had done a creative writing course in Trinity and then was lecturing in radio in DIT and Griffith college and looking after my daughter who is now 16.
With all the books I have written, I have been lucky in that I have not had to go looking for publishers. Noel King asked me to write a collection and then Pat Boren. I see younger poets, and not-so-young poets, constantly promoting themselves – I don’t know how they do it. I feel I could not do it.
Simplifying complexity
There are many people who could be excellent writers who have not had the opportunity. Everyone can write poetry but not everyone can be a poet. Sometimes I wonder if I can be a poet.
People have this idea that poets are removed from life. I rarely say I am a poet because I think it sounds like I’m in an ivory tower. I want to be a poet with my feet on the ground.
I think there is a tendency for some writers to be obscure and to think obscurity is an attractive quality. That is how poetry is often taught in school, unlocking the poem and finding the hidden meaning but it's not how I approach it.
I have my SAOL group for women recovering from addiction, I work with Deis schools, libraries and youth groups. My Fatima group are aged over 50 and I love helping them unlock their creativity. It’s so rewarding, they have strong personalities and great stories.
People often don’t have the privacy and space to attend my classes online. They might be in a tiny apartment with kids running around or in a hostel. It really brought home to me how disproportionately affected they are when things go wrong in life and especially with Covid.
Adapting to life outside
I started running my first classes outdoors in the grounds of IMMA for my Fatima poetry circle and I met my pathways group in Blessington Basin last week ; this group has recently come out of prison and are settling back into the community.
We had been meeting on zoom and I had never met them in real life as most are new this year.
I don’t want or need to know what they were in prison for, I want to respect their privacy. Some are astonishingly not private about their lives, they talk so openly about their experiences.
They can be fantastic writers. There is a lot of hurt, a lot of disadvantage. They write about their childhood. I try to give them prompts to bring out their feelings – negative and positive.
Last year I ran some classes on Leaving Cert poetry in prison. I wanted to show the prisoners how not to look at poetry as something mystifying that needed to be decoded. I felt I was helping them to crack that open; to see that poems were just what was written on the page. If it is not on the page it's not relevant. They really got it.
Most prisoners did not have a decent education, and the teachers in prisons are so committed. It is very tough to be in prison, even if you are just there to be visiting. It is a very depressing environment.
Poet in Residence
In 2016, I landed a lovely job as a part-time poet in residence at St Joseph’s school in East Wall sponsored by AL Goodbody Business to Arts initiative.
East Wall is a very interesting community, very settled with immigrants from different parts of the world. The school community is very supportive.
I found it relaxing to work with the kids. Third class was my favourite – so bright and alert and not at the stage of annoying you and rebelling. Sixth class can be a little harder to keep their attention but they were great kids.
When I finished at St Joseph’s I applied for the Poetry Ireland post – I really wanted it.
The sad thing was I was there less than six months when Covid struck. I have done my best to reach my community online but it’s not the same. I can’t wait to meet my groups in our beautiful building again.
My role was originally due to finish in September. It has been extended till at least the end of the year. I'm hoping that this will mean more in–person engagement than has been possible recently.
