Once again I’m lucky enough to have a Thursday off (very rare) this week and lucky enough it coincides with the May Over the Edge readings at the Galway library. If you have the night off too and looking for something to do, I highly recommend coming along to the reading as a fantastic writer I have come to know and love, Bernie Ash, who will be reading some of her excellent poetry to what I am sure will be a packed house.
Bernie I have come to know through attending the poetry writing workshop classes tutored by Kevin Higgins (classes I highly recommended here at the last post) and Bernie’s poetry was always a delight to listen to in class, deliciously delivered through her soft-spoken voice.
Bernie is from Galway and it is in the past few years that she has started writing poetry and quickly producing work that is enjoyable and magnetic, mostly about nature and relationships.
In a time when poets or writers are all about the shock horror value, the protest poem, the comedy, the ‘get the crowd to cheer poem’ (but do not really listen to the words) it is a pleasure to hear poetry soaked in breathtaking imagery of the natural world, poetry to keep your ears alert to all the sounds and your nose to the smell of the words that Bernie can deliver to you, well-crafted poetry that I am proud to listen too and enjoy.
Something I love about Bernie while we were in Kevin’s classes (think I did two classes with Bernie) is that on some weeks, with the ‘homework’ so to speak giving to us by Kevin, Bernie would come in to class to read the poem she would have created and sometimes she would say she struggled this week with it, but at the last moment, she would have looked out her window (while having breakfast or something) and instantly be inspired and create a magical piece on the spot, be it about the branch of a tree or a bird that was sitting outside the window, and the piece would always put you in that moment,
I urge you to come along this Thursday. On the night as well as Bernie is another poet Adam White as well as the fiction writer Eimear Ryan, two writers, I know nothing about, and this is why I love’ Over The Edge’, you always get a surprise discovery of new writers to enjoy and follow and as always, Over The Edge Delivers this, plus there is also the open mic, so if you have a story or poem to read it is open to everybody.
Bernie will be a treat I promise. I have been lucky enough to read myself at Over The Edge and lucky enough to do classes with other readers like Bernie such as Ann Irwin who was also part of this great class of Kevin’s. Come along, listen, enjoy, support the locals and head home with hopefully a new understanding of quality and enjoyable poetry that this town keeps producing.
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