The comings the goings,the leaving,the living!
It should form a central part of discussions around the theme of the PhotoIreland festival of which it is a part,that of migrations,the diaspora,and cultural identity.
Oh exciting times!
I have to thank all of you who have visited and pledged on my fundit page page to help realise this goal.
Its great to see your names popping up as patrons of this project
And I ask those regular readers who have not at yet paid a visit to trip over and take a look there are many great rewards for pledgers some well beyond the monetary value of the pledge sought.
to go direct to the page click here
A couple of weeks ago I met with Sarah Griffin,a fascinating woman full of life vitality and entusiasm.A writer and a poet Sarah had come to the conclusion that she must leave so her work can mature and she can expand her knowledge of literary worlds other than the domestic.This coincided somehow with her boy friends relocation to The U.S.A.
and so after fulfiling some literary commitments she left six weeks after him for San Francisco.
Her reaction to his leaving is expressed in the poem American Wake which you can find here
Here is what Sarah had to say
"Helena and me used to wander the estates of Bayside in the evenings after school. The suburbs there are winding and endless, and just far away from our own houses to make us feel like we were on an adventure.
We’d talk intensely on these journeys about growing up to be artists: about her making films and me writing books. They seemed like little more than pipe-dreams through the lens of our blue and grey school uniforms; things we could only hope we’d achieve, as opposed to any sort of reality.
One of the first nights, it got dark while we were lost in conversation: we weren’t sure, in this myriad of semi-detached houses, exactly how to get back to the coast road that would lead us home. There was a big wall that we could just about see the sea over: we guessed that if we climbed it we’d be nearer the road, nearer our way home.
We slowly struggled up the wall and ended up in a graveyard, terrified but laughing at the strangeness of it.
Nearly ten years later, I live in San Francisco. She is packing her bags for Bristol, emigrating barely three months behind me. Adventure comes in the shape of plane tickets and visas now, instead of walks through neighbouring suburbs. I write poems and stories, she animates films, and soon we’ll both be miles from the wall we climbed the night, all scratched knees and torn jeans and big, big hopes of what we’d grow up to be, but ever closer to everything we ever wanted.
In the photograph for the Leaving Dublin Project I am sitting on that wall. It was harder to climb than I remembered."
Yes its a long road we all must walk with many a wall to climb and walk on along the way.
Here's hoping we all have a head for the heights!
If she is up for it I look forward to recording Helena's departure also!!
On the night Ray and Artur shone as always with Ray doing some extra graveyard stuff!
So big thanks there!
as always comments from any angle are appreciated and responded to pleas also use the share buttons and make this a social hit!
remember the fundit page is right here
as always many thanks
David
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