Engage Festival

I read some of my poems down at Bandon Books Saturday morning and a lot more people than I thought might turn up turned up in the end and it was really a lot more enjoyable than I’d been expecting, people really seeming to enjoy my conversation, the answers to their questions, as well as the four poems that I chose to read thank God. It was great to get that opportunity to read to people who really did seem to like hearing what it was I had to say, I even managing to get a few laughs along the way, but don’t worry I ain’t no comedian. People were happy to ask me about my writing process and what not, I getting to really explain why it is I do this. Also, it was great that Rupert Perrott, a man who I wrote a poem for a couple of weeks ago in-keeping with his success in beating cancer, came to the event because I was able to read his poem and I think, think a tiny part of me wanted to well-up on reading it with him and others in close proximity. So, reading aside, I also checked out a poet today at the town hall who turned out to be a well-known poet called Adam Wyeth, a fella with a real degree of talent and I had a word with him afterwards, he advising me to keep writing as well as reading a lot which I certainly have not been doing. I bought his book and I am looking quiet forward to delving into his poems, they really are great. He has entered and won a fair few competitions in writing including the Fish Anthology which is a huge poetry competition in Ireland, and he has also been published – the book I got today – by none other than Salmon Poetry, Ireland’s biggest publishing house to be fair.All very exciting and great to see that getting out there and reading it to people is the real thing that I need to be doing, so I will continue on with that. Good Engage week all in all, one where I certainly engaged with my poetry all the more.