Poet's lecture to Colaiste Pobail students

The poet, Áine Ní Ghlinn, gave a talk to fifth and sixth class students of Colaiste Pobail Rath Chairn last week in Ráth Chairn library. One of her poems, 'Gealt' (Lunatic), is included on the Leaving Certificate Irish Syllabus. She was inspired to write this poem by a friend who witnessed an event on a suburban bus in Dublin when a harmless patient that had escaped from a psychiatric hospital boarded a bus wearing pyjamas. The Gardaí were summoned by the authorities and the poem highlights the various reactions of the passengers. Treasa Ní Mhairtin, a former chairperson of the board of management of Colaiste Pobail Rath Chairn, arranged the lecture. The students were very happy to meet the poet and listen to her talk. Meanwhile, Michael Farry, a local poet and historian, was in the school to talk about the poetry of WB Yeats, who features on the Leaving Certificate English syllabus. His son, Oisín, teaches English at Colaiste Pobail Rath Chairn. Michael Farry is a retired teacher who edits a local poetry magazine, 'Boyne Berries', and also maintains a website for the Boyne Writers Group (www.boynewriters.com). The students were very impressed with his knowledge of, and enthusiasm for the poetry of Yeats, and considered his talk a great help to their studies.