Thanks to funding from Irish PEN and Poetry Ireland, on Saturday 16th May, Poets Stephanie Conn, Moyra Donaldson, Viviana Fiorentino, Celia de Fréine, Nithy Kasa, Thérèse Kieran, Paul Maddern, Sarah Michaelides and Shelley Tracey came together in Newry City Library for an intimate conversation about their work and practice in relation to chosen themes of translation, language, queer poetry, access, disability and chronic illness. Shauna Gilligan and Lia Mills were the notetakers.
Poets and Notetakers with the photograph of Galal el Behairy on the table. Photograph: Pádraig Hanratty
Following a welcome from Co-Chair of the Irish PEN Board, Pádraig Hanratty, we held the customary PEN presentation of the Empty Chair. On this occasion, Thérèse Kieran introduced Galal el Behairy, Egyptian poet, lyricist and activist, who has been in detention since 2018. Galal’s photograph and lines of his text were displayed at an empty desk throughout the day’s proceedings:
The light doesn’t care
how tall the fence is; it’s
not hemmed in steel bars
or officers’ uniforms.
It cannot be forgotten.
Over the course of the day, generously fuelled by tea, coffee and biscuits courtesy of Newry City Library and lunch in the Shelbourne Artists’ Café, the poets conversed about issues and themes summarised below:
1. Translation
Exophony, Yoko Tawada’s term for the condition of writing and/or existing outside one’s mother tongue; working with an idea and trying to get that feeling of the idea with all the languages that you have; Ciarán Carson referred to playing the same music with a different instrument; how to balance, reconcile, and negotiate the challenges and gifts of that experience; whether writing about a culture from outside that culture is a betrayal; issues that arise when working with a bridge or crib translation.
2. Queer Poetry
Why do we need a special category for ‘queer’ poetry? Does the delineation entail a requirement to address only queer themes? Do you have to be queer to write queer poetry? How queer poetry opens and expands language and understanding; why ‘queer’/uncanny use of language is particularly suited to poetry; hearing the metaphors in poetry yet feeling it with our bodies; the anthology Queering the Green (edited by Paul Maddern); various poets who influenced the panel.
3. Access, ability and chronic illness
Challenges experienced by people whose lives are suddenly changed either by illness or by the experience of becoming a carer; artists’ and writers’ need for space to safely explore changes in identity and experience a rigorous response to their artistic work; funding and institutions; training; the need for advocacy; the need for communication about what does and does not work for artists and writers; debunking myths and celebrating Otherness. Specific books and projects were shared and discussed. The poets also spoke about influences and favourite poets. There were readings from their own and other people’s work.
Common threads
The importance of the work being valued in its own right, and not as an example of any particular ‘sub-section’ of poetry more widely, was stressed. Another common thread was the value of networks, not just in life but in the work. The importance, respectively, of publication, readership, and critical response was discussed.
This day was, itself, a sort of network in miniature. Everyone felt its value, and a desire to extend the conversation to be more inclusive, to reach farther, to see where it might go. Numbers were limited on this occasion, to allow for a wide open, honest discussion, addressing themes which can sometimes be difficult or even contentious. What we found was that there are extensive overlaps and connections between apparently dissimilar experiences in practice and deep intersections between recognisable challenges and states of mind. We are working on an extensive report for our funders, Poetry Ireland and the Board of Irish PEN, with a view to developing this approach and extending the conversation to include an audience of fellow-practitioners.
