Unravelling the power of poetry

 

 

As Kate Ennals prepares to offer up her second collection of poetry for public consumption she is in a philosophical mood. This, it has to be said, is the nature of the poetic soul.

“Poetry gives us an expression that may help us understand our existence, a little bit,” the poet told The Anglo-Celt.

She is playing her part in making sure as many people as possible have access to that understanding through her role as workshop facilitator and mentor. Kate has now lived in Ireland for over 20 years and her latest poetry collection is life refracted through a prism of her journey over the three years since her last work was published.

“It's a gathering of the experience of that part of my life,” the poet explains.

 

The life experience on that canvass of time provides an expansive emotional palette to work off: the passing of her mother, a global political landscape that is almost a caricature, and a society that is waking up to acceptable norms.

Taking time out from readings, hosting master classes in poetry and radio workshops Kate will launch her second poetry collection on Thursday [April 19] at the Johnston Library, Cavan. The poet's latest collection is called Threads.

Following on from the success of 'At The Edge' Kate's new work charts a different course: “It is a different process. I was really excited and thrilled [at the launch of the first book] and it was the best thing that happened in my life, but this one is quite different.

“It seems, at the moment, that our lives are increasingly becoming a series of threads and we all have so little control over everything,” Kate said by way of explaining the title.

 

Having three distinct parts Threads is heaped with the skill shown in the first outing: “The first third of this poetry collection is 'family threads'. My mother was dying in the last two years, that was very difficult. A lot of the poems are about her and about my feelings. They are not particularity pleasant poems. But there are more about family; my children, my brother.”

“The next section is about 'threads of thought'. They are around political isolation, my response to Trump, Brexit and other contemporary social and political events. I am interested in political issues,” she said.

The final section of the book is broader: “The third section is 'threads of other'. It is around other things that have happened in my life or thought that occurred to me. It is just random thoughts that have visited me. In a sense it's a much more personal collection, which is why I am a little anxious about it.”

 

Delicate truth

For Kate the power of poetry is in both the writing and reading: “The American poet, Adrienne Rich said, 'poetry can’t free us from the struggle for existence', but my poems and writing help me to express the 'inchoateness' of being. Poetry and writing are my antidote to the fading thread of hope in the world we live in today.”

“Poetry is a wonderful tool, it provides a truth and it helps you express that truth in a different way that isn't screaming or shouting. It is a delicate truth,” she mused.

Kate says she is looking forward to the launch: “I’d love to see the broader Cavan community celebrate with me because we are what make life good. I hope all of my friends, poets, writers will come from wherever they are, they are all threads in my fabric.”

Catriona O’Reilly of Cavan Arts Office and playwright Philip Doherty will launch the collection Thursday April 19 at the Johnston Library at 6.30pm.

 

 

High voltage

I want my hand to hover over your lines

feel the heat, fan flames

Open windows

I want you to burn alive, squirm

 

I want you in the spin of a sycamore seed

to speak the texture of cat tongues

Paint in relief

do forbidden things like

 

drizzle me with frog spawn, time and rosemary

spit emblematic turns at me.