Reubens Reading

Noel O Briain Reading at Reubens

Kerry Native, Noel O Briain held a reading in Reubens Cafe on a recent sunny Saturday in Tralee. Noel read from his recently launched collection of poetry, Scattering Day, the title poem which refers to the scattering of the ashes of Noel's wife, Amy, to whom the book is dedicated, and also remembers Puck Fair's final day - another type of Scattering Day.

The collection was launched in Dublin by Killorglin resident, Gerald Mannix Flynn and at the launch he gave a moving speech that quite literally moved Noel to tears. "The poems are prayers, meditations for the every moment. They are not about a past or a future, they are about our now," said Gerald.

Scattering Day is essentially two books in one - a collection of sonnets and a collection of free form poems. Although all the poems are striking for their often devastating honesty, the sonnets tend to be, as a set, the most clearly personal, dealing as they do with Noel's experience and observations on Love, Death and the Afterlife.

"The poems are about outrage, bewilderment, wonderment, intimacy, nurture, hope and care," said Gerald. "We are lucky today to have such a collection of work at our disposal. The old saying, 'to thine own self be true," applies to this work because it shares with us the intimate emotions or Noel and his life's journey."

"I always think that when you pick up a poem to read it, you're accepting help in your struggle in life. Make sure that when you reach out that one of Noel O Briain's poems is within reach."

The free form poems contain a mixture of intensely personal poems as well as intensely provocative poems that deal with more global issues, for instance, children in war. They also include some of Noel's hilarious comic poems.

Noel's reading, as with this book, was a rollercoaster of emotion, from tears to laughter.

For more info on the collection please contact the publishing house Seven Towers by email at seventowers@gmail.com