In Honour of the Day and Beara....

St. Patrick’s Day

Ireland has rubbed off on me..
my shoes are stained with it,
my feet calloused by it,
my body peninsula-shaped,
my voice roughened by the auld songs
my hips creaking in waltz time

These flat feet of mine find
the road to Eyeries in the rain,
and they cling to the boreen
as it winds to the strand where
heart-shaped shells and pebbles,
spiral marked, glisten in the sun.

Then I climb to Gort’n Boulliga,
the graveyard on the hill where I
wipe my feet on the mat during the
Mad Cow scare and pay tribute
to Michael’s parents with
a daffodil on their grave.

(“Why did you do that? Michael asked.
“Somebody has to,” I answered.
“Visiting makes me too lonely,” he said.)
Now it makes me lonely to visit his grave
just two rows down where I leave hydrangeas.

My eyes are Irish now.
shedding tears of grief and wonder.
My arms are Irish arms.
Clasping the arms and shoulders,
of companions who help
me across ravines through
storms, like Battie, the mason, and his wife
Rosarie who can do anything.

“Rosie the Mill” watches from her house
at the crossroads-- Rosie who can instantly
marshal tractors to scare off marauders,
and can dance the night away.

I welcome Denis “Batt” who raised skyscrapers
in New York and returned to build a house
near his mother for his wife Mary.
I have seen the poet, Leanne, change from child
to Fairy Queen whose metaphors
conquered the castle, and I have joked
with Father Sean, singer of vintage songs
and Maggie whose healing hands rubbed
old hurts away.

My appetite changes to an Irish hunger
for potatoes, cabbage, oatmeal.
Rosarie’s sponge cake,
Mary’s apple tart,
mussels and scallops,
goose egg merengue,
Sue’s omelets.

My Irish legs are strengthened by slogging
through the mud, over the stile at the Ardgroom
stone circle where my daughter and I
prayed for our hearts' desires and left
cockle shells as offerings

I linger at Sue’s Retreat, a haven nourishing
the creative process wherever it may be lurking.
My spiritual yearning opens me to words
flowing freely in Yeatsian harmony.
halfway between heaven and earth,
with moonrise in the morning and sunrise at night.
My Irish knees bend at the golden church
under stained glass windows and glorious
stations announced by Father Brick
whose ecumenical voice
welcomed Mormon me as one of the “good
Christian woman on the road to Urhan,”
my face an Irish face
branded with ashes from Fr Brick's hand
on Wednesday after which he
came down on my Irish head
with a blessing. “May you have the
spirit of Christ forever with you.

Now I have an Irish breast, too old
to suckle, but beating with a heart
as strong as any in the village,
beating with dancers
like Denis and Deccie,
patiently teaching me to follow
the Irish way to friendship, loyalty and love.

Mary Lythgoe Bradford
Leesburg, Virginia, USA
2007/2013

Gerry Galvin Has Left Us...

Gerry is shown here (on the left) with Irish President Michael D. Higgins, who launched Gerry's first poetry collection in 2010.

Gerry Galvin, an extraordinary chef, gifted writer, and a much-loved and much-missed friend, passed away on Friday, 1 March. When he first came to Anam Cara as a writer-in-residence in 2002, he had recently retired from his long career as a restauranteur, first in Kinsale, where he was instrumental in turning that town into a destination for food lovers, and then at his and his wife Marie's Drimcong House restaurant in Moycullen, Co. Galway.

But I didn't know any of his history at the time. He arrived on a Sunday, and beginning on Monday, we all gathered after breakfast to listen to a pre-recorded Gerry on the radio reading one of his essays a day for the week, essays written based on some of his own poetry. On Tuesday morning (after I had served him four meals), we heard the announcer say, "The name Gerry Galvin is probably very familiar to you, but not yet as a writer. He is known as the first gourmet chef of Ireland!" I was gobsmacked (and appalled)! But Gerry in his consummate generosity assured me that all was well. His sweet acceptance of my offerings cemented our friendship, and he honoured us by preparing something wonderful for us each time he was in residence. One of my fondest memories is cooking with Gerry as we got ready for my stations mass for the Eyeries parishioners of Inches townland.

Our last visit was in Galway in April. Phyl McCarthy and I went to the Festival to hear Gerry read from his latest novel and to spend time with the poet Billy Collins and his fiance Suzannah, both of whom thoroughly enjoyed Gerry's reading. Phyl and I then spent a beautiful, sunny afternoon with Marie and Gerry in their lovely home in Oughterard...an afternoon that included lunch!!! The company and the meal were fabulous -- A treat I will remember forever.

Rest in Peace, dear, dear Gerry.

(His obituary can be found at: http://notices.irishtimes.com/24528792.)

2013, The Year of "The Gathering"

2013 is going to be an amazing time to be in Ireland -- to connect or reconnect with your Irish roots and to take part in "The Gathering." If you don't have roots of your own, it's a great time to create some. (To learn more about the special offerings throughout the country, go to http://www.thegatheringireland.com)

And while you are in Ireland, why not plan to spend some of that time reconnecting with yourself and your creative side by retreating to Anam Cara on the Beara Peninsula, "the place that God created for himself, and at the last minute gave to us."*

(*a Dublin taxi driver)

St. Mary's College Students Visit Anam Cara

Rosemary Graham, a writer-in-residence at Anam Cara and a member of the creative writing faculty at Saint Mary's College of California, recently brought 20 students to spend a day at Anam Cara near the end of their intensive, one-month tour of Ireland. She and Fr. McElligott, also a member of St. Mary's faculty and who has conducted these tours for the past nine years, provided an incredible experience for their students as they covered the length and breadth of the country, challenging them to rethink any pre-conceived notions they may have had about Ireland -- its people, its history and politics, its place in history, its literature, its music, its culture.

During their day here, Paddy O'Conor, a Beara poet and retired English teacher and counselor, led a discussion on Beara and Cork poets and the roles that writing and creativity play in Ireland. The group got stuck in immediately to Paddy's poetry writing prompts as they explored their own reactions to what they had seen and heard in the last month, and from the few students that there was time to hear from, they produced some outstanding work.

Representatives of the group have written a daily blog detailing their journey; the following is their entry after their day with Paddy at Anam Cara:

http://vwordpress.stmarys-ca.edu/smc2ireland2013/2013/01/29/poetry-the-magic-of-ireland/

Rosemary organized another Anam Cara connection for the group. In their final night in Dublin, they were joined by Fiona O'Rourke, who was thrilled that the students read her story, "Wrong Whiskey," which won third prize in the 2012 Fish Publishing Short Story competition and was written for the most part at Anam Cara when Fiona and Rosemary were both writers-in-residence.

2013 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE SET !!!

Happy St. Brigid's Day (1 February) -- the first day of Celtic Spring! As St. Brigid is the patron of poetry, among many other creative activities, today would be a good day to begin to consider taking time to enhance your own creative gifts at Anam Cara. You could either retreat on your own anytime during the year or take part in one of the following workshop retreats now scheduled for 2013. For more information about an individual retreat. go to www.anamcararetreat.com or to learn more about the group retreats, go to http://anamcararetreat.com/workshops.html.

MAY

Plein Air Watercolour Workshop Retreat
Led by: Evelyn Dunply (www.evelyndunphy.com)
One-week residential workshop retreat
Arrival: 25 May 2013
Departure: 1 June 2013

"Plein Air View of Beara" by Evelyn Dunphy


JUNE

The Legends of the Hag of Beara: A Guide to Our Challenging Times
Led by: JoAnn Hughes (http://capenews.net/blogs/notes_on_the_arts/2011/09/19/joann-hughes-the-circle-is-the-gate/)
A Week-long Residential Workshop Retreat
Arrival: Saturday, 15 June 2013
Departure: Saturday, 22 June 2013


JULY

Lining Our Thoughts: A Poetry Writing Workshop
Led by: Leanne O'Sullivan
(http://www.munsterlit.ie/Writer%20pages/
O'Sullivan,%20Leanne.html)
A Week-long Residential Workshop Retreat
Arrival: Saturday, 20 July 2013
Departure: Saturday, 27 July 2013

AUGUST

Writing with Fire: Creating Works That Rivet Your Readers
Led by David Hazard (http://www.itsyourlifebethere.com/
index.html)
A Week-long Residential Workshop Retreat
Arrival: Saturday, 10 August 2013
Departure: Saturday, 17 August 2013

Loosening the Bonds - A Silent, Guided, Elements Retreat
Retreat Leader: Kim Richardson
A Week-long Residential Retreat
Arrival: Saturday, 17 August 2013
Departure: Saturday 24 August 2013

ANOTHER WORKSHOP RETREAT ADDED TO 2013 SCHEDULE

Writing with Fire: Creating Works That Rivet Your Readers
A Week-long Residential Workshop Retreat
Led by David Hazard (www.itsyourlifebethere.com)
Arrival: Saturday, 10 August 2013
Departure: Saturday, 17 August 2013

"Publishers and readers find a powerful voice irresistible. For 34 years, David Hazard has coached writers, teaching them how to direct the latent powers of their whole being into their writing.

"Great writers... successful writers... learn how to speak with what I call, 'The voice of the soul, and the voice of the body.' Power is released into your writing when you open these energies.

"Whether creating a novel, a memoir, or essays, fresh, riveting voice is essential. In the many years I have taken to form this workshop retreat, I have seen countless writers experience the fresh energies of mind, body, and soul after this encounter -- which is really an encounter with your personal energies."

More about David:

David Hazard has worked as an author, publishing consultant, and writing and creativity coach since 1979, developing bestselling titles and lines of books for numerous publishers. He has authored more than 30 books of his own, including several award-winning and internationally bestselling titles. His 1984 book, Blood Brothers, led to three Nobel Peace Prize nominations for its subject, Dr. Elias Chacour, and is now published in 25 languages.

Other bestsellers and award-winning books include: A Place Behind the World (1st Place, Fiction, ECPA); No Compromise: The Keith Green Story (over 1.5 million sold); Rekindling the Inner Fire, an 11-volume series (over 350,000 sold). David has consulted with publishers such as Doubleday, HarperCollins, Random House, Thomas Nelson and others.

In his wide-ranging career as a writing coach, David has coached government officials, actors and celebrities, novelists, financial and economic experts, children's authors, international diplomats, news correspondents, psychologists and counselors, pop music stars, motivational speakers, sports figures, spiritual teachers and theologians... and everyday men and women with novels and poignant memoirs to publish.

WORKSHOP RETREAT ADDED TO 2013 SCHEDULE

"Loosening the Bonds" – A Silent, Guided, Elements Retreat
A Week-long Residential Retreat
Retreat Leader: Kim Richardson
Arrival: Saturday, 17 August 2013
Departure: Saturday 24 August 2013

Join us for a week of companionable silence and guided meditations and practices drawn from the world’s great spiritual traditions, including the ancient Celtic tradition, in the great natural beauty of the Beara Peninsula. The landscape of the Southwest of Ireland is a living exemplar of the ancient Elements—Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. In this Elements Retreat, we will seek to use the alchemy of the four physical elements, along with guided and silent meditations, walking, music, breath and mantra practices, to go beyond them. In this way, we seek to free ourselves for a while from the bonds of attachment to the “false self,2 and the illusion that is this apparent world, going beyond and inward to awaken to the freedom and beauty of our real Self, and the wellspring of our creativity.

About Kim:
Kim Richardson is an experienced retreat guide and workshop leader, who regularly leads retreats in the UK and in the Sinai desert in Egypt. [Kim teaches and guides students and leads retreats in both the Sufi and Reiki spiritual traditions and is also a member of a Shingon Buddhist sangha.] He has also led haiku and meditation workshops at Anam Cara with Maeve O’Sullivan.