Eamon Cunningham writes about the journey to his first collection – Part 2 – Influenced by popular music and film

But the journey was only just beginning, and my first early attempt into poetic journalism occurred in 1958 when a tornado raced across our town leaving a wide trail of destruction. My rhyming verses easily linked fifty-eight “to a story to relate” and the rest is poetically forgettable. I was, however, laying down a simple track of historical record as reported fact. But it does mark a time when I felt in the muse; the desire to write down experiences, stories and events that I experienced when growing up within the Kingdom,

“where the mountains of Mourne swept down to the sea.” Percy French.

Subconsciously. we were all engaging with lyrics contained within the popular music of the time. Influences came from the likes of the Everly Brothers and the huge import of pop music broadcast on Radio Luxembourg and on pirate radio from Radio Caroline, beamed from a ship anchored off the Isle of Man.

I was strongly influenced by the short stories written by Maurice Walsh and in particular the screen version of the Quiet Man beamed onto the silver screen in the Mourne Picture House. In the 1930s; Irish novelist Maurice Walsh placed the moors and mountains of Ireland firmly on the literary map with his celebrated collection of stories. Since then, readers have continued to be charmed by these accounts of the simple and common activities of the characters in 1920’s rural Ireland.

The lives of his principal characters intermingle with the themes of nationalism, human dignity, honour, and love and are given full expression and made famous by John Ford’s Oscar-winning film The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. These humorous and poignant tales are set against a backdrop of intrigue and Irish civil unrest.

His writings provided the inspiration for a series of short stories which I attempted to craft using similar templates built around honour, and loyalty and the struggle for justice and equality. In this pursuit I was heavily influenced by such movies as the Field by John B Keane, in which assumed rights of entitlement and patronage could be usurped, leading to conflict and displacement. In many ways these depictions of rural agrarian aggravations could be seen as a metaphor for wider political struggles, within constant battles for self-determination from a broad socio-economic and politically motivated indigenous peoples.

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