As/Is







7.09.2007


Desmond Swords Merry N Square and poem.

This video is of me at the Electric Mouse in Kiltimagh central Mayo, near where three of my four grandparents are from (Bohola and Achill island). This was part of the In Sight Of Raftery Festival, and was filmed after midnight and much booze, which accounts for the loss of memory during the second piece. It was as part of a slam, 500 euros split five ways, and which i did not lay my hands on, as shortly after the recorded events, i became a boozy mess. Raftery was a blind wandering poet who actively sought out other verse-smiths, challenging them to verbal contests.

Poet Paul Casey runs the Tigh Fili (House Poet) literacy events and has begun curating the fully mediatised Irish poetry industry, via youtube. This is the first time a nations visual poetic lore has been stored in one place and the other vidz are from The All Ireland Slam heat for BBC Radio Four slam, and the other poets in both are..here

There is also now in place, a network of poets in various cities across Ireland who run poetry gatherings. Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Limerick, who are all working together for the benigfit of visiting poets. If you are a visiting poet who is visiting here, drop me a lone at desmondswords@hotmail.com and i will put you in touch with the right people in these four cities who can make your dream come true, of reading in the hime of poetry, where it is in the music of what happens and has been since Cuhullain and Fin MacCool tripped and flit from wood to plain.