Traditional-Irish-Poem

The next poem is a poem I got from a great fiddle-player James Kelly of Capel Street one night in Inis Oirr when he was out there playing with John Blake, a wonderful musician too. You might hear hints of a poet who has influenced us all Willie Yeats who had a castle there in Thoor Ballylee many's a grand night we had there with George and Anne and Michael a great family-that was before the summer school. And I'm indebted of course to Paddy Kavanagh from Iniskeen and Baggot Street, the sweetest melodeon player you ever heard that used to play there up in McDaid's and Nesbitt's I was there hanging on every note. And all the great sessions around Dublin and Dundalk that are recorded on the old 78s I remember the excitement when a new batch of them would be brought home and fair play to all the men and women who collected them. It's through them I heard the music of Allen Ginsberg of Newark New Jersey and Alan Dugan from Brooklyn and Allen Grossman in Baltimore there and Alan Sondheim of New York City and all the Allens, a magnificent family, second only to the Alices. And Charles Reznikoff a great walker also of New York, and Harry Crane from Chagrin Falls and Susie Howe, one of the Howes and Fanny her sister, felicitous poets both of them, and May Swenson who we all loved and Muriel too, and Langston Hughes up there in Harlem, I tried to get him to come to Áras Éanna many's the time but no dice and Gus Young in London and Trevor Joyce who published Gus and Trevor's Uncle Jimmy a truly great poet though not necessarily when he said he was and Marcel Duchamp and Pierre Reverdy and Artie Rimbaud and Paul Muldoon his Incantata was only massive and Paul Celan with his Todesfuge and Paulie Durcan from Leinster Square a very prolific poet and all the Pauls, another great family. And Tom Raworth God bless him and Hugo Ball and Randolph Healy from outside Bray and Micheal O hAirtnéid from Newcastlewest no longer with us unfortunately but a wonderful poet and player we remember fondly and Ger Hopkins that used to work up there in Newman House on his sprung rhythm and Eavan out in Dundrum many's the cup of coffee I had at her kitchen counter and Crystal Williams I played with her in the Big Red Barn one time at Cornell it was powerful and Rachel Loden in San Francisco and Gabriel Gudding with whom I wrote The Clio Reel some of you may know it we're still dancing to that one. So for all the men and women of poetry and John Donne here goes: