Dylan thomas more than a dissolute alcoholic poet

Damian McCarney

A Welsh poet tonight hopes to break through the myth of Dylan Thomas with a celebration of his work in Bailieborough to coincide with the centenary of his birth. The Dylan Thomas event is just one of many highlights of the three day Bailieborough Poetry Festival which opened last night.
The event sees respected poet and UCD lecturer, Dr Nerys Williams convey her passion for her compatriot to the audience in Murtagh’s Lounge.
“Since Thomas was a prolific and highly radical broadcaster I hope to give a little sense of him as a poet who was interested in popular cultural forms,” Nerys tells the Celt. “His recording of poems and A Child’s Christmas in Wales as the first Caedmon LP is one example.
“For too long he’s been read as a dissolute alcoholic poet who died in New York. There is more to him than the myth!”
Asked what she finds so magical about Dylan Thomas, Nerys replies:
“His use of language and his ability to render childhood impressions and intense internal thoughts with such musicality. His poetry really reels a reader in - and he did treat words as raw material - not unlike a sculptor with marble.
“He also has a wicked sense of humour in his short stories and radio broadcast essays for the BBC.
“He is also I think undervalued as a social poet. His work is marked by the fear of fascism in the ‘30s and the effect of WW2 on both London and Swansea. He wrote a wonderfully affecting broadcast work called ‘Return Journey’ which tried to reconstruct the Swansea that was lost following its bombing in February 1941.”
Nerys also promises to read from some of her own verse, which she readily accepts has been influenced by Thomas.
“Undoubtedly, my first volume is called Sound Archive and while it doesn’t reference Thomas in an obvious way, I am indebted to how Thomas transcribed Welsh idiom and sonic association in his poetry. His poems often seem a bricolage of Welsh and English cadence. Thomas’s language would have been imprinted on my ‘poetic’ hearing so to speak since I grew up in Carmarthenshire not too far from Laugharne which Thomas loved so much and raised his family. Thomas was the backing track that most Welsh contemporary poets have to negotiate in their writing.”
This Dylan Thomas event is followed in the same venue by ‘Poetry Aloud’, an open mic session at 10pm where all poets are invited to read from their own work.

http://youtu.be/NIoXV-HXobo?list=RDuuPO2Kvqlms

 

Big fan
The Bailieborough Annual Poetry Festival, organised by the Cavan-Meath LitLab Writers Group, and led by local GP Dr Paddy Halligan opened last nightwith an exhibition of paintings in the library, by internationally renowned Cavan artist Roisín Duffy.
Paddy Halligan is a big fan of Roisín’s work. “She produced a fabulous publication called ‘Everything Under the Sun’ a few years ago, it was her paintings in booklet form with poetry and writings attached. She has subsequently done two further instalments of ‘Everything Under the Sun’ and is launching them on the night as well.”
On Saturday at 2pm in Bailieborough Library include there will be the prize-giving and readings of the winning poems in the Festival Poetry Competition, which attracted over 100 entries from all over Europe, UK and Ireland.
“We’ve had twice as many entries as last year,” enthused Paddy, “it’s amazing how these things grow.”

‘Come Rhyme with me’
Paddy is expecting “a bit of craic” at a ‘Skirmish of the Writing Groups’ in Murtagh’s lounge, Main Street at 5pm.
“There’s a number of writing groups from the Dublin and Northeast and we are running an event we are calling ‘Come Rhyme With Me’ as opposed to ‘Come Dine With Me’ - so basically every group will have 10 minutes to present their work. The bell goes after 10 minutes and all the other groups give them a vote, just like in the back of the taxi in ‘Come Dine With Me’.”
The festival concludes at 8pm on Saturday, again in Murtagh’s, opening with an evening of poetry and storytelling by the hugely popular Killinkere man, Patsy McDermott, of ‘Ramblin’ House’ and Listowel Week fame.
Finally, the award-winning poet, physicist and humorist with Glangevlin roots Iggy McGovern will bring the evening to a close with his readings and anecdotes.