Performance at Phonica 6, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, March 27, 2018

Longtime friend and collaborator, Justyn Hunia and I, performed my poem ‘Rosehip Syrup’ while screening Justyn’s footage and sound clips of his 92-year old grandmother, Amelia, who lives in an old wooden cottage in the southeast of Poland. Justyn has been documenting Amelia and her rugged, rural life for more than ten years. We finished by singing a song ‘with’ onscreen Amelia. Thanks to Christodoulos Makris and Olesya Zdorovetska, curators of the event. And thank you Olesya for the photos.

Text we displayed at the start:

Amelia is a 92 year old resident of Wola Komborska, a small village scattered amongst hills and forests of south-east Poland, where she spent her entire life in a traditional wooden cottage built by her great-grandfather. For over 10 years her grandson, Justyn Hunia was documenting her life, recording her life stories, songs, fantastical tales, and daily activities, guided by the rhythms of nature and liturgical year. Last autumn Amelia moved out of the cottage due to health reasons.

On a summer day of June 2013 Justyn took his poet-friend Alice Lyons to Wola Komborska, where Amelia treated them to her famous barszcz soup and a bowlful of pierogi. This encounter inspired Alice to produce an imaginative poetic account of that visit, ‘Rosehip Syrup’, which found its way into her collection The Breadbasket of Europe (2016, Veer Books, London).

  

Amphitheatre for Introverts (and others) is coming along

I’ve designed and am supervising construction of Amphitheatre for Introverts (and others) on the shores of Lough Lannagh, Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland.  The amphitheatre’s terraces are made of Kilkenny limestone and the lines from one of my poems will be carved into the risers: the place/between water and sky/holding sound/it is underloved/and an amphitheatre.

This is a public art project commissioned by The Arts Office of Mayo County Council and associated with the new pool and gym that are being constructed further back on this site. I hope this place will be a quiet space that captures the sounds of the lake and waterfowl and gives the public a place to be inward, to look at Croagh Patrick (when it’s clearish) through the trees, to do nothing. Of course, all the extroverts want to have gigs and readings and performances here. That is fine by me. But introverts, this place is first and foremost made for you.

The photo on the left shows the mid-phase of construction while the right shows the early shaping and stoning of the terraces.