Dublin City July 13 2021
Words Move in association with Poetry Ireland
We're very excited to be holding our first Words Move sessions in partnership with Poetry Ireland, with poets Rachael Hegarty and Geoff Finan, and singer songwriter Farah Elle to give you a flavour of what's to come! Discover Rachael's Words Move poem here. With thanks to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Fatima Group United too.
Rachael Hegarty
The Secret of Fatima
Wildflowers bloom out of the gable walls
in the now derelict Fatima Mansions.
Laburnum plays havoc
WHERE'LL WE'LL BE
All our sessions here are with the Fatima Group United for local community groups. We’re afraid due to current restrictions we can’t offer public events at this time for these events. We look forward to coming back soon! See Poetry Ireland's full programme of events by clicking below.
THE PERFORMERS
Geoff Finan
Geoff Finan was the Writer in Residence for Dublin City Council for the Dublin North West area in the summer of 2018 and again in 2019 and is currently lecturing in the National College of Art and Design on the module ‘Voices From The Margins’ and also in Maynooth University on the elective ‘Education Projects in the Community’ for the B.Ed course. In 2019 he had the honour of writing the 100 year commemorative poem celebrating the first Dáil in Ireland, titled ‘January 1919’. Geoff was commissioned as part of the First Fortnight Festival to write his most recent piece ‘Gloke’ after working with The Traveling Community for 4 months. Geoff has also been commissioned by the DCC’s Culture Connects project to write for the Local Heroes initiative and his poem A Letter To Leo was chosen as the flagship piece for the My Name Is campaign, fighting against child homelessness in Ireland. Geoff been featured on RTÉ, TV3, Today Fm, 98 FM, FM104 and Newstalk and in The Sunday Business Post, The Times, The Irish Times and The New York Times
Rachael Hegarty
Rachael Hegarty is a Dubliner. She was educated by the Holy Faithers in Finglas, the U. Mass Bostonians, the Trinity M.Phillers in Dublin and the Ph.D. Magicians at Queens University, Belfast. Her debut collection, Flight Paths Over Finglas won the 2018 Shine Strong Award. A child survivor of the Talbot Street bomb, her collection May Day 1974(Salmon, 2019) has received critical acclaim for the 33 docu-sonnets and 33 ballads for the people who died on the single worst day The Troubles. Rachael has also edited a book of poems by community groups from hometown in Making Sense of Finglas(2019). Her third collection, Dancing with Memory (Salmon, 2021) is a dance hall of memory for her mother who lives with Alzheimer’s. She teaches at the Trinity Access Promgramme because she wants more working-class students causing some havoc in academia. Rachael’s kids say she uses the 3 F- words too much: Finglas, feminism and feckin’ poetry.
Farah Elle
Farah Elle is a progressive Artist / Musician based in Dublin, whose distinctive voice reveals something of the beauty in the ephemeral everyday. Farah has eclectic influences, rich in Libyan echoes from her North African background. Her ethos as an Artist is to actively value the power of music and language as tools for progressand healing. Farah also holds music & wellness workshops to encourage people of all creeds to creatively express themselves and celebrate their identities. In the meantime, Farah Elle’s debut album 'FATIMA', named after her mother; is due for release in 2022.
POEM
The Secret of Fatima
Wildflowers bloom out of the gable walls
in the now derelict Fatima Mansions.
Laburnum plays havoc
with the crumbling masonry.
Tufts of dandelions sprout out
from rust shuttered doors.
Some class of an ivy creeper
gawks out of the smashed windows.
Remember all them lovely people
who partied here. Partied hard.
Remember how some fell here, fell
hard on these eleven acres by the canal.
We can only hope their souls
find a greener place in this renewed soil –
freshly turned and now cleared
of all that builders’ rubble.
The new flats offer a sanctuary.
Lads call for the ball and play
kick-about on the tarmac.
Rope swings still whirl around
the washing line poles and kids laugh.
Neighbours chat across balconies
and bear in mind the secret of Fatima:
life goes on and wildflowers, wildflowers still bloom
Rachael Hegarty, 2021
More beautiful poetry always available on Poetry Ireland Here
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