I’ve been seduced by the TV series ‘The Diplomat’ it’s been a stimulating watch and deeply thought-provoking against the real-life back drop of the blustering balaclava brigade at coastal ports, and the fiery bravado of French students. From the outside it can make us uncomfortable, uncertain, on edge. And so, I want to share with you something that has the ability to take you away from those difficult feelings and offers a respite -‘reading’.
I’m not working towards a punchline here, simply offering you the chance to experience a piece of utterly beautiful writing from, what I am sure will be a writer to watch in the future. With credit to author, Alice Kinsella for spotting this new talent, and her encouragement and support (both monetary and practically) that has allowed them the chance to further explore what is surely their craft. And this particular writer, Maya Ní Mhóráin is still at school. What an honour then, to have your work included in a published anthology of Irish writers’ and for the title of your poem to become the title of the anthology.
I read Maya’s ‘Those Who Listen’ and was immediately transported to the soft, spongy, textured landscape of Southern Ireland, I walked with Maya through the bog, saw the layers of cut peat and felt the history of that place, I lay down and listened to the brackish water burbling up through the ground, I smelt the earth and the air as it settled around me. I went home, looked up Mayo Books in County Mayo and ordered my own copy.
And as the domestic news continues to bleakly unfold and conversations turn to what kind of water filter should one get for an emergency, and does oat milk outlast soya? I have turned to this wonderful anthology, and been reminded of the wider world, the wonder and glory of nature. I find that Irish writers and speakers often share a gift. It lies in a turn of phrase, that reads like the unexpected pause of a flamenco dancer; a fiercely held breath dressed in a flurry of frothy skirt, and in the seamless stitching of words, sometimes falling against you, like sweet Irish rain, and then as the frenzied click of heels dancing hard on a worn wooden floor, as you absorb their weight in your mind and imagination. Now that the nights are drawing in and the cold gathers at our feet, I heartily recommend giving your eye to brain connection a spa retreat. Pick up a book and give yourself up to it for awhile, bathing in the richness of words as they weave their magic.
’Those Who Listen’ edited by Alice Kinsella, is a wonderful collection of work. If you purchase a copy I’d love to know what you think but honestly any book that speaks to you, would do. Re-discover time away from the daily drama of the news. Do as the President’s husband suggested in ‘The Diplomat’ series, give your brain some much-needed downtime and take a book to bed, not a screen. Take time to step away, and seek life between the pages. Just as being by the sea and walking along the spine of ancient hills, or plunging through woodland following the distant call of birds brings me pleasure. In reading, in the words of another, in that still, isolated activity, I can walk through a door, and some time later emerge from a chapter, a page, with new perspective, refreshed. Finding myself both gentler and invigorated. Joyfulness in life can be found by simply imagining myself squelching across a peat bog following the words of a writer on a golden afternoon in late summer. Without even getting my wellies on.
https://mayobookspress.com/index.php/our-books/those-who-listen