Poetry Postcards for Poetry Day Ireland

For the past number of years Mountshannon Arts have looked to the talented pupils of Iniscealtra NS to help us create Poetry Postcards for Poetry Day Ireland.  This year Poetry Day falls on Thursday May 1st and the theme is May Day. 

Yet again the students from 1st to 6th class have been busy thinking about May Day and what it means and putting together their colourful creations.  After much thought and discussion we have finally arrived at the artwork that will be this year’s Poetry Postcards and we are very excited to share the good news.

‘I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree’ and what tree could be prettier and more inspiring than a confetti filled cherry blossom tree?

We know it is not a poem but it has poetic lyrics, this picture reminds us of John Spillane’s (who played at the Mountshannon Arts Festival in 2022) ‘Dance of the Cherry Trees’

‘Let me tell you ‘bout the cherry trees

Every April in our town

They put on the most outrageous clothes

And they sing and they dance around.’

Buladh bos Nathan Hatchett your poetry postcard has filled us with joy.

Farm animals are the focus of this May Day Poetry Postcard.  Lá Bealtaine was an important day for everyone involved in any form of agriculture.  On May Eve it was tradition for people to go to the farthest fields and bless the edges with holy water invoking protection on their animals for the year ahead.   Can a farmer be a poet?  To read the poetry of Michael Dooley you will certainly say yes.  Michael will be our guest alongside Niamh McNally at a poetry reading supported by Poetry Ireland at this years Mountshannon Arts Festival….more details to follow.

Meadow at Dusk, by Michael Dooley

I am walking home from the river with hands that smell of trout.

                Meadow foxtail covers the tongues of my boots like

Cortege flowers.  One by one cows begin to fold

And fall in the evening sun until eventually the long field looks

                Like an abandoned game of chess.  I close my eyes and listen

To the rip of grass stalks, the grinding of cud.

Three cheers/woofs/moos/clucks for a talented young artist Leo McLennan

This May Day Poetry Postcard captures so much of Mountshannon in May.  The Mayfly is up.   Fishermen and women are out on the lake from dawn to dusk.   The may flowers are blooming and a bonfire blazes for Bealtaine.  The late and much missed Scariff poet and folklorist Michael O’Gorman would have plenty of poems and folktales inspired by this terrific postcard.   Michael often posted this piece in Scariff Poetry Group on Facebook at this time of year

BEALTAINE

A Mháire beag, a Mháire beag

A mbíonn i gconaí ag gháire

An dtiocfidh tú, an dtiocfidh 

Liomsa i mbaint na bláthanna.

An d'tiginn tú, an d'tiginn tú

An lá a beidh ann amarách:

Lá Bealtaine, Lá Bealtaine,

An chéád lá gheal an tSamhradh.

A rough translation of that little song goes: 'Little Mary, will you come with me, laughing through the meadows, picking flowers because, do you understand, tomorrow is May Day, the first day of Summer.'

Chloe Meaney like the details in your picture you are a little star.

Spring is New Life – how true this sentiment is.  We loved the richness of colour and detail of this postcard.  We often turn to poetry at times of new beginnings and the poem that came to mind when we saw this postcard was

‘Begin’ by Brendan Kennelly.

‘Though we live in a world that dreams of ending

That always seems about to give in

Something that will not acknowledge conclusion

Insists that we forever begin’

Three in a row…..Is there no end to Alex Bottcher’s talents?

This artist has captured the Spirit of Bealtaine traditions with bonfires on the Hill of Uisneach.  The May flowers are blooming in colourful celebration and the May Fly turns to face the glorious summer sun. 

The judges were reminded of Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Beacons at Bealtaine’

‘The May hills were burning, far and near

When our lands first footers beached boats in the creek

In uisce, fionn strange words that soon grew clear.’

Thank you/ go raibh mile maith agat/merci beaucoup to Bryan Martineau for this wonderful depiction of May Day, Lá Bealtaine.