International poetry event ‘will exclude Limerick’
The Limerick - a poem of five lines recited in many languages - is not being entertained this week at Cuisle, Limerick’s International Poetry Festival.
Organisers of the festival, now in its fifth year, wants to take a more serious look at poetry and this was not the time for the Limerick in Limerick.
City Arts Officer Sheila Deegan said the Limerick would not be an element of the festival.
“The Limerick is not meant to be serious and it has a function as a ditty. Cuisle is talking about poetry as a contemporary art form,” she said.
The first major event of Cuisle was a reading by Paul Durcan at the Belltable Arts Centre last night from his new collection The Art of Life.
Cuisle also features a strong programme aimed at children.
Limerick writer Mae Leonard, whose short stories are a regular feature on the RTÉ Radio 1 programme Sunday Miscellany, will take part in the children’s programme at the City Library tomorrow.
The organisers have assembled some of the country’s best known poets and others who are not so well known.
One of the final events of Cuisle will be a reading by Labour TD Michael D Higgins on Saturday.
Michael D was born in Limerick and his published collections of poetry include The Betrayal (1990) and Season of Fire (1993).
He has been Labour spokesperson on Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands since 1997.
Another well known poet, Gabriel Fitzmaurice from Moyvane in North Kerry, will give readings at the White House bar on Thursday night, where he will launch Stony Thursday Book, an annual poetry anthology.
Ms Deegan hoped the festival would entice people who have written poems in private to share them with others.
“Poetry can be a very private pursuit. We hope to align that privacy with a wider public scenario at two Open Mic sessions, on Wednesday night at the White House and Friday night at Flannery’s pub in Catherine Street,” Ms Deegan said.
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