I was indeed. I had a great pal from Tang who brought me down one beautiful summers day to sample the unique pubs of Goldsmith country.
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There’s a programme about Eavan Boland starting on RTE 1 right now.
I ended up watching that. Knew nothing about her. Her poetry wasn’t on the Leaving Cert syllabus when I did it.
A lot of people didn’t like her because she was so close to the establishment. I didn’t realise the friendship with Mary Robinson was so close.
Yeah she was Free State establishment alright.
I see the IT are turning in Micky Martin. Didn’t take long. He needs to get out and drink a few lattes.
Unrale.
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That is very moving.
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Heaney is hard bet at the oul’ poetry. Digging is one of my personal favourites.
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I saw him read it once. And he also read on the same evening “when all the others were away at mass” which is also magical.
It was a year or two before he died.
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Muldoons are suckers for agri-themed poetry. Kavanagh another fecker for it.
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After being made Nobel laureate, writer in residence of Harvard and oxford, recipient of the ts eliot award etc the village elders of bellaghy decided to award Seamus freedom of the village. They even held a dinner for him in the gaa hall. During the meal his brother charlie decided to give him a touch about meeting Elizabeth Windsor. Charlie’s exact words were, “I saw you and her majesty having a big yarn. What would the likes of you and her have to talk about?”. Seamus replied, “she asked me if my brother Charlie was still driving the van for mckeefry’s furniture shop”.
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That’s a great yarn.
Lads of my vintage will have been weaned onto Heaney’s brilliance very early as Mid Term Break was in our third class reader, no line is as evocative as the ‘four foot long’ one.
It’s difficult to select a favorite, anything with childhood reminisces of his parents gets me
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That line about constantly facing pressure from nationalists has been around for years, I’ve yet to see it supported with an actual example
Heaney is the cream of the crop.
He’s got more rhymes than the bible got pslams
I saw himself and Bill Clinton speak in a small room.
Clinton blew him away. It was like watching fire. I never saw anything like it - it was like you could reach out and touch his brain. Room was full of secret service and the drunker I got the more slowly I moved. Going for a piss in a room full of secret service is fair intimidating
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