Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet contains wonderful poems

The Kilkenny County Council Arts Office does Trojan work and one of its annual successes is the publication of its Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet.
This is the 18th issue of the ever popular public homage to poets based in or with a connection to the city and county.
The aim of the publication is to give local writers a platform for their work.
Being in existence since 2004, it continues to be a much sought after and well loved platform for writers to expose their work to the public.
This year 95 poems were submitted by 51 writers for consideration, with 12 poems by ten poets selected.
The lucky ones, well ctually the really talented people included this year include: Janice Woodgate, Noel Howley, Sharon Verrall, Nuala Roche, Carmel Cummins, Rose Kelly, Willie-Joe Meally, Mary Malin and Nora Brennan.
I cannot forget the powerefdul and rwatheri ntoitmate poem by kilkrnny people clumnist, Gerryoran which caught me off-gaurd and it shouldn't.
Writer Peter Sirr was this year’s editor and he had the tough yet enjoyable task of selecting poems for publication. Peter was born in Waterford before moving to Dublin with his family as a child. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Sirr won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1982, and the poetry prize at Listowel Writers’ Week in 1983. He has divided much of his time between Ireland, Italy, and Holland, though he has now settled back in Dublin. Peter’s most recent collection of poems is Sway, versions of poems from the troubadour tradition, was published by Gallery Press in 2016. The Rooms was published by Gallery in 2014 and shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and the Pigott Poetry Prize. Peter is currently a freelance writer and translator and lectures part-time at Trinity College Dublin. He is a member of Aosdána.
Peter Sirr states: ‘When I read poetry, I want to feel myself suddenly larger … in touch with – or at least close to – what I deem magical, astonishing. I want to experience a kind of wonderment.’ So says the American poet Mark Strand and it’s a good summary of what I look for in poetry. When asked to edit this year’s Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet and teach the workshop, this is what I had in mind. Imaginative freshness, attention to detail, to the possibilities of language and form, but also preparedness to take risks: these are the elements that draw us to poetry. The poems I received from Kilkenny poets covered a wide spectrum in terms of subject matter and approach, from the natural world to personal loss and the wider social political issues of the day. It was a hard choice in the end, and there were many poems that could have been published here, but the poems I ended up choosing were those that, whatever the subject, showed a spark of the magic necessary for the weird alchemy of poetry. I hope you enjoy them in all their variety. Thanks to Kilkenny Arts Office for their support and Alé Mercado for his design.
The 18th issue of the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet was celebrated on Thursday 16th August at 3pm in the Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle. It was launched by An Cathaoirleach Cllr. Peter Cleere, Writer-in-Residence, Eavan Boland for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Broadsheet Editor Peter Sirr.
The Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet Issue 18 is available free of charge at the Arts Office, 5 Dean Street and all Kilkenny Libraries.
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