A NORTH Clare woman has turned memories of her childhood on the farm in the Burren into a new poetry collection, exploring themes of nature, farming and the changing pace of rural life.
Glencolmcille woman Miriam O’Donohoe recently launched her first poetry collection, It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This – The Rhythm and Rhyme of Rural Life, with the book being well received by her community and literary figures alike.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, O’Donohoe described the project as “harvesting memories” into a collection of sonnets, free verse poems and haikus. Much of the collection’s inspiration came from the contrast between the slower pace of farming life during her childhood in the 1970s and the modern agricultural landscape.
“Thinking back, things have changed so much in the years since I grew up in the ‘70s. My mother had a saying, ‘when God made time, he made enough of it’. But honest to God, time is moving so fast now due to the fact that machinery and everything has got so big; the lifestyle has become much faster.”
While farm work may be busier, Miriam remembers a simpler time, more closely connected with nature.
“Things were laid back, and farming was more in harmony with the seasons; work may have been harder, yet it was more simplistic in ways. I brought beautiful memories of growing up in that lifestyle with me,” Miriam explained, adding that values of “hard work, empathy and patience” were also important lessons from her childhood.
The Burren’s wildlife, landscape and farmlands are intricately woven throughout the poems, as Miriam points out.
“I grew up in the valleys of the beautiful Burren. I’ve harvested replays from my childhood in my mind and woven the spirit of the mountains and the valleys and the work that happened between them, into the printed page,” Miriam highlighted.
Front (L-R): Miriam O’Donohoe, Paddy Hynes (Seanchaí)
The Burren woman’s development as a poet was helped by involvement with local literary groups, including Salmon Poetry in Ennistymon with visiting American professors of writing, namely Stephen Rodger Powers and Sandy Yannone, as well as Inis Creative Writers Group.
She also drew inspiration from major poets including W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Patrick Kavanagh.
Miriam said having her work critiqued initially proved difficult, particularly when she was encouraged to make greater use of colour and the five senses.
“I remember saying to my partner, ‘Oh, they don’t understand farming, you know. Sure, what do they know about this, and do they realise how long it took me to write that?’” she recalled.
O’Donohoe overcame these setbacks by studying the work of established 19th- and 20th-century poets such as Walt Whitman and Robert Frost. Poets such as those, and many more, hugely influenced the writing process of her collection, which she wrote largely from the heart and from memory.
“I wrote it as I remembered, in free verse. All you have to do is observe. Observing and listening to the sounds of nature is very important, and then the poems will flow.”
The writer is concerned that this kind of observation is dying out in an increasingly technologically focused world.
“People these days don’t stop to think, and they don’t stop to look. They don’t spend enough time in nature. People need to just take time out for themselves, put the phone in their pocket and just open their ears.”
At the heart of the project is a tribute to Miriam’s parents, Michael and Bridget O’Donohoe, with the poet noting that “I really wrote this book to honour my mother and father. For it is they who planted the seeds of knowledge in my mind and nurtured them, before leaving this world a better place.”
Following the launch of her collection on August 14th at The Good House in Inagh, O’Donohoe’s focus now turns to the road not taken as she embarks on a campaign to bring her unique voice to a wider audience.
“The real work begins now, sharing my voice with the world, where readers will move with me, from the rugged beauty of the Burren’s mountains and valleys to deeply personal poems, including sonnets and haikus. My books are currently available in Ennis, Corofin, Carron, Gort, and Galway as well as in North Clare.”
“There are so many layers to writing a book,” she said. “Each layer you think, ‘Oh, I have this done now. Thank God, I have this done.’ And then you realise, ‘Oh, you have more to do’,” O’Donohoe added.
