Drogheda poet Susan Connolly is preparing to launch her new book ‘Looking Across the River’ which is a collection of poems, visual poetry and drawings all bound together so beautifully it is sure to become a much sought after collector’s item.
The launch takes place on Thursday 15th June at 7pm at The Droichead Arts Centre in Barlow House, Narrow West Street with local author John McCullen doing the honours. There will also music be from uilleann piper Mick O’Brien and local men Michael and Breifne Holohan.
‘Looking Across the River’ is dedicated to the memory of Susan’s niece and goddaughter Emily O’Reilly who sadly passed away in 2020. It is a book of visual poetry about growing up in Drogheda” Susan said. “It is in three sections, each with a different focus.
“The landscape of ‘The sun, moon and stars’ is at Baltray and Mornington where the river Boyne flows into the sea. I typed the lines of poetry on a Silverette typewriter.
‘Sunpath’ is set 8km upriver from Drogheda at Brú na Bóinne, ‘the bend of the Boyne’, at the prehistoric passage-tombs of Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange. What were our ancestors saying in their art? No one will ever know. Mine is a personal interpretation.
“The theme of ‘Drogheda’ is its shops and buildings, beginning with the Tholsel, pivotal at the very heart of Drogheda. I have vivid memories of shopping with my mother as a child. Now and again we brought a broken toaster or a faulty radio to Fintan Murphy’s electrical shop, first at his premises in James Street before it was demolished, then in Dyer Street before that too was demolished.
“I collected my comic every Monday from McKeon’s Newsagent in Narrow West Street. There were long queues outside the Abbey and the Gate cinemas for the Saturday matinée.
“The poems are a combination of image and handwriting. Handwriting is personal as a fingerprint. ‘Looking Across the River’ is dedicated to my niece and goddaughter Emily O’Reilly who also grew up in Drogheda, thirty years after me. She died far too young after a long illness. We all miss her kind, generous and easy-going ways.”
