It was a full house again last night at the February gathering of the WORDS Writer’s Group which is hosted with such warmth by Sean and Miranda Corcoran at the intimate Art Hand, which is neatly nestled on the glorious Copper Coast here in Co. Waterford.
This was the eighth meeting of WORDS and it continues to surprise with great performances from regulars and newcomers. There was a real cosmopolitan feel last night and we had gorgeous readings of poetry in Polish and Spanish, a song with both Gaelic and English words, as well as lots of very different accents in the English language.
One of the aspects of WORDS that I like the most is the way in which it stirs up the thought processes. A few months back, I was captivated by a poem, written by Tom Power, in which he wove together all sorts of titles and lines from songs that were important to him. This had been playing on my mind and yesterday I had a great afternoon thinking about, and re-playing, songs that were part of my adolescent years.
There were just so many including : The Fortune’s Freedom Come, Freedom Go; Terry Jacks’ Seasons in the Sun; Roberta Flack’s Killing me Softly; Elvis’ Wooden Heart; virtually everything Kris Kristofferson ever sang, Kevin Johnson’s Rock ‘n Roll; and the absolutely unforgettable I’ve been to the Desert on a Horse with No Name, which seemed to be the last song at every party I went to when I was thirteen or so.
It was an afternoon of connecting with my past and then last night I took courage and shared my jottings with the WORDS Group. The feedback has been really uplifting and I’ve been humming away all day while pondering on the many, many highlights from the other performers.
So, I reckon WORDS are definitely here to stay but the brilliant thing is that you just never know what each month will bring.
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 