dumbfoundry

Where did you grow up? Was poetry and writing part of that mix? 

I was born in Dublin and lived there for the first 20 years of my life.  My father loved books.  There were eight children in the family so books were necessary spaces.  On Saturdays my father brought second-hand books home to us.  On birthdays and at Christmas, there were always new books.   He also bought Irish poetry books as they were published and read poetry from his poetry book-case on Sundays.  My father gave me a connection to poetry; the only other connection was poems learned off by heart in Irish and English all the way through school.  He didn’t know any poets personally but he almost did, knowing their work and the places they came from.  The first poems I wrote were prayers.  I was 15 and suffused with embarrassment.  That weird shame about poetry continued until I was in my 30s and met Alan Dugan who blew it away effortlessly.  As far as growing up is concerned, that is a work in progress and always will be.

This entry was posted by Ivy on Wednesday, January 05, 2005 at 6:18 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.