The launch of “The Woman With An Owl Tattoo,” took place on Thursday 13th June in GMIT Mayo Library.
It was a wonderful evening with much love and warmth in the room. It was a joy to share the evening with Alice Kinsella, who read some poems from her fabulous pamplet, “Sexy Fruit.”
There were many people to thank and it was wonderful to get the chance to do this in public. The proudest moment of the evening was when I thanked my two children and the audience gave them a special applause.
For those of you who couldn’t make it here’s an extract from what I said about my chapbook,
“The poems in this collection emerged from one hundred and fifty poems that I wrote over a two year period, 2017-2018. I wrote on various themes. I didn’t have any thoughts of putting a collection together at the time, I just wrote.
Last summer I reviewed all the poems I had written and this collection began to show itself to me. These poems reflected on my growth since the ending of my marriage and my subsequent journey of discovering my sexuality and identity.
The poems in this collection reflect on my experiences but not everything is factually correct, because that’s not what I’m about. I aim to write my emotional truth and that’s the essence of the chapbook not a factual recording. So to answer your question – No, I don’t have an Owl Tattoo!
Yes, the poems are personal but I also see them as being universal. As Carl Rogers says, “What is most personal is most universal.”
This collection is not just my story, it’s the story of many. It’s the story of those who cannot articulate their struggle. I hope that I’ve given a voice to those who cannot speak their truth.
This is poetry I would have loved to read when I was struggling with my sexuality. So I hope it may help others in some ways.
I’ve arranged the poems in the collection to bring the reader on a journey , which begins with the ending of a marriage and ends with a sense of joy and optimism and self-love.”
Many thanks to those who came along on the night and to those who couldn’t make it but sent me lovely messages to wish me well.
Here I am reading some of my poems at the launch. Just cut and paste the address below to view.
https://t.co/Hzx2UFGZS9
A special thank you to the wonderful Claire Loader for her fabulous photos and to Kathryn Slattery for capturing me in a great video