Cris Boschini habÃa vuelto al redil y elaboró un magnÃfico cuadernillo con un impresionante diseño para la portada de Natalie Stone, con poemas de Michael, Beatriz y Pablo y traducciones de Liam, Jordi, Luis y Beatriz, quien presentó los Poemas Seleccionados de su difunto padre, el poeta Juan Antonio Villacañas, traducidos por Michael, Luis y ella misma.
A brimming well of memories 2004-2011 Those who drink from the well must never forget those who dug it
It all began with a different gathering on the edge of Europe in the summer of 2003 but it had been in my mind for some time to bring together Irish and Spanish poets in Madrid to celebrate through poetry those two countries’ links and identities.
That summer I was on holiday with my family in West Kerry and we were invited to attend President Mary McAleese’s visit to Corca Duimhne Regional Museum in Ballyferriter. I remember introducing my sons Marcos and Seán who exchanged simple pleasantries with the President in Irish and Spanish, much to her surprise and delight. But what caught my ear was the line in her speech ‘Those who drink from the well must never forget those who dug it’ The sentiment in those words seemed to sum up exactly what I had in mind for our gathering in Madrid.
The following year we moved to the Centro Gallego with Anthony Cronin the invited poet from Ireland and Beatriz Villacañas and a cauldron of poets from Galicia making up the Spanish contingent. We had a wonderful Celtiiberia evening of poetry and afterwards an Irish-Spanish dinner in The James Joyce Pub. The following day MacCoscair and I took Cronin to see El Valle de los Caidos. We were driven there in the Ambassador’s car. I felt very uneasy walking in this unholy ground but Cronin appeared to be fascinated by its grandiose pretentions.
We combined the years 2006 and 2007 in a programme of readings, music and song held in the Centro Bellas Artes on the feast of Saint Bridget. Once again Beatriz did the honours for Spain and MÃcheál Fanning represented Ireland. Music was provided by Chris Dove of Puca Óg and myself on bodhrán and songs as gaeilge by MÃcheál Ó Cathain. The Irish Ambassador Peter Gunning, through the good works of Soja Hyland and Sam Crowley, hosted a wine reception afterwards and Cristiano Boschini produced a booklet of poems and translations to mark the event. The following day we all set off on a walk to places of historical and cultural interest, guided by Pilar, with stops to slake our thirst at occasional wells along the way.
2008 was a more intimate occasion with Trevor Joyce the invited poet from Ireland and Luis Ingelmo the translator of his poems into Spanish, representing Spain. Beatriz delivered a lecture titled Powerful Presences: Ireland in Spanish Poetry, Spain in Irish Poetry. MÃcheál Ó Cathain sang in his unique voice and Matthew once again played host to us afterwards. The booklet carried a photo of the well in the patio of the Colegio de los Irlandeses in Salamanca, designed and produced by Cristiano. There were homages paid to Matthew’s mother Deirdre Loughney, to whose memory I dedicated the reading of James Stephens’ poem Deirdre, my cousin James Liddy whose poems were read by my brother Liam, and a Spanish poet Antonio González Guerrero whose work was read by Beatriz. They had recently left us to carry on celebrating the living and the dead at the well.
2009 was a lean year with Cris leaving for foreign fields and funding practically nonexistent, so we had a series of small gatherings in various venues with Liam and myself hosting a number of Well events around Madrid. But we were back in full force in 2010 with a programme called La Palabra Transformada/The Word Transformed, organized to celebrate the translator and the poet, the musician, dancer and singer. Colm Ahern, Peter Sullivan and Access English Campus agreed to sponsor the event and the invited poet from Ireland was Michael Smith, who shared the stage with Pablo Luque Pinilla, Jordi Doce, Luis Ingelmo and Liam Liddy. Puca Óg musicians Rosanna Martin, Ian Doran, Chris Dove, Nicholas Eyre, Derek Giles and I provided music for Rosalia Hall’s group of dancers Folklore Plaza Castilla, who danced to a poem of mine and Micheál Ó Cathain sang the songs of Connemara in the West of Ireland.
Cris Boschini had returned to the fold and produced a marvelous booklet, with a stunning cover design by Natalie Stone, with poems by Michael, Beatriz and Pablo and translations by Liam, Jordi, Luis and Beatriz, who presented the Selected Poems by her departed father-poet Juan Antonio Villacañas, selected and translated by Michael, Luis and Beatriz.
We had come full circle and seemed to be making links far beyond our initial aim. Perhaps in the future we should think about inviting a Chinese poet and see what we can draw from the poetry wells of Ireland, Spain and China! But, our immediate task is to put the festival on a sound financial footing in order to continue our stated aim of honoring and exploring the bonds between Ireland and Spain.
Begin with the head and the lips Reviving the word with a body of kisses. Consider the torso with its neck Like an ash tree Buried in a silent language of shoulders, Its heart snug in the trunk Awaiting the inevitable miss of the beat.
Imagine the waist and below the waist, The thighs and limbs and knees when bent, The ankles and the feet: A smooth equator and centre of beginning, A lap and stretch of warm terrain, A child´s view of a door Leading into someone else´s arms, A movement across beach stones Drying in the wake of departing tides.
End with the toes and the body erect, Enabling us to look the world And each other in the eye.
