With the images from her trip to Ireland projected behind her, Rebecca Morrison read a long poem that covered many of the points political and historical on her trip. These ranged from a family that was historically the mediator between the early clashes of Protestants and Catholics in Belfast to a meditation on the mummified peat bog man.
Brigit Truex [seen with the mummified peat bog man in the background] read a number of small lyrics that were inspired by late fall and winter as well as a number of pieces (some that can be read in the December issue of POETRY NOW that made direct reference to Ireland, including her finalé that made use of the Irish myth of the selkie — a half-seal, half-woman entity found in the Orkneys and featured in the film The Secret of Roan Inish.
Jeanine Stevens read a number of pieces that spoke of archaeological Ireland, including some ancient Druidic poems. She also read one piece that referred to Woodhenge, the precursor to Stonehenge. She recalled her trip to study in the British Isles in the 1980’s.
Then it was time for a changing of the guard. Charlene Ungstad read several of her own pieces, some that related to the Irish side of her family and some that referred to other sides of the family. One of these pieces meditated on whther it was one of her kinfolk near Oroville who might have been responsible for stealing the the last artifacts of the Yahi, Ishi’s tribe, which resulted in their untimely deaths over a harsh winter.
Two of the highlights during the open mic were:
Ms Wali picked up her bodhran and played a while to prove that she was authentic black Irish. Then she told a story of her uncle Seamus, the itinerant farmhand who serendipitously came upon a wild adventure within a well at a remote country home in the Irish countryside.
Theresa McCourt read one of her own poems and the title poem by the Irish poet Bernard O Donoghue from his book calledHere Nor Thereentitled “Westering Home.”
At the end of the night, Jeanine, Malgwyn Ungstad, Charlene, and Rebecca search for pennies at the bottom of the crock pot, thrown there by the despondent in order to improve their luck.
