Fanny Howe
Nick Laird
Sarah Howe
Poetry Now International Poetry Festival, Dun Laoghaire.
Saturday, 27 March, 2017
'Loop of Jade', the title poem of Sarah Howe's latest collection, refers to the ornament Howe wears around her neck during her reading, a bracelet she inherited from her mother that traditionally is put on a baby's wrist. The poem, a fragmented piece that occasionally moves into prose, tells the story of her mother's early childhood when she was given up for adoption and moved to Hong Kong. She explored similar territory in 'Tame', a poem about China's 'gendercide' which led to a situation in 2014 when there was an estimated forty million more men from women in China. The poem begins with the Chinese proverb, 'It is more profitable to raise geese instead of daughters'.
Like many writers, Howe's background (born in Hong Kong before moving to Watford) lent her an extra sensitivity to language as from a young age, she experienced 'language as pure music, severed from meaning'. With her low voice and calm delivery, Howe is a charismatic performer of her own poetry.
In contrast to Howe, Nick Laird seems harried and awkward. He has driven from Tyrone to drop his family off at Dublin airport before coming to Dun Laoghaire and he explains that his reason for coming to Ireland had been to visit his sick mother. This information added extra poignancy to his decision to begin his reading with Seamus Heaney's 'Mossbawn:Sunlight' though as he admitted, beginning a reading of your own poems with one of Heaney's was a dangerous tactic. Most of the poems he reads are from his latest collection 'Go Giants', the most memorable of which was the childlike list of 'likes' that comprised 'Feel Free'.
Later on in the evening, in the Pavilion theatre, veteran American poet Fanny Howe reads a prose piece about the Boston bombers, who happened to be near neighbours of hers.
She is followed by Michael Longley, who is still burly and bearded but now employs a walking stick. His poems, mostly taken from his latest collection, 'Angel Hill', are delicate meditations on family, war and death, decorated with flora and fauna from his 'soul landscape', Carrigskeewan in Co.Mayo.
'Ledwidge' and 'Woodbines' both explore the First World War while 'The Magnifying Glass' and 'Inglehook' are poems addressed to Fleur Adcock and Edna O'Brien.
One can sense the affection the audience has for the poet in their quiet, satisfied murmurs at the end of each poem and there is a disarming moment when a tearful Longley is unable to finish reading a poem about his marriage. He comments that sometimes reading aloud can catch you out, 'like diarrhea'. He re-reads the poem, without crying, at the end.
Later on in the evening, in the Pavilion theatre, veteran American poet Fanny Howe reads a prose piece about the Boston bombers, who happened to be near neighbours of hers.
She is followed by Michael Longley, who is still burly and bearded but now employs a walking stick. His poems, mostly taken from his latest collection, 'Angel Hill', are delicate meditations on family, war and death, decorated with flora and fauna from his 'soul landscape', Carrigskeewan in Co.Mayo.
'Ledwidge' and 'Woodbines' both explore the First World War while 'The Magnifying Glass' and 'Inglehook' are poems addressed to Fleur Adcock and Edna O'Brien.
One can sense the affection the audience has for the poet in their quiet, satisfied murmurs at the end of each poem and there is a disarming moment when a tearful Longley is unable to finish reading a poem about his marriage. He comments that sometimes reading aloud can catch you out, 'like diarrhea'. He re-reads the poem, without crying, at the end.
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