Our congratulations to John W. Sexton, winner of the 3rd Five Words competition, for his poem The Dancehall on the Summit of the Bloodiest Head of the Twenty Six Headed Giant. John will be the guest poet at Ó Bhéal’s 9th anniversary event on April 11th. Our congratulations also to all of the shortlisted entrants, and for highly commended entries from Beth Somerford and Janet Lees. Thanks to everyone who took part this year, and to judges Marie Coveney and Colm Scully for their careful and considered selection.
| The Dancehall on the Summit of the Bloodiest Head of the Twenty Six Headed Giant | by John W. Sexton (Ireland) winner |
| Tuesday on a Fulcrum | by Beth Somerford (England) highly commended |
| Commuter | by Janet Lees (England) highly commended |
| The Night of the Nightjar | by Mary Anne Smith (England) |
| Tribes | by Pam Szadowski (England) |
| An awful hush | by Jenny Pollak (Australia) |
|
Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Fire Monkey |
by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) |
|
An unread novella in a charity shop |
by Janet Lees (England) |
| Igloo | by Shirley Bell (England) |
| Ragwort | by Derek Sellen (England) |
| A Coin in the Soft Machine | by John W. Sexton (Ireland) |
| Sky, an Open Window | by Tamara Miles (U.S.A.) |
These poems will appear in Five Words Vol IX, which will be launched at Ó Bhéal on Monday the 11th of April 2016, along with an award presentation and readings from available contributors. The 4th Five Words International Competition will commence at noon on Tuesday the 12th of April, 2016.
at Ó Bhéal
– How can Poetry-Films widen the intersection shared by captive literature and film audiences?
It’s perhaps too early yet to tell, but there’s a strong indication that punters have been arriving earlier since Ó Bhéal invited the poetry-film muse of audio-visual word dimensions into its weekly event: a high-quality, discretely mounted … (dervish whirl now) … DV projector and ceiling screen (the screen in the image appears quite large in reality). Which means, that beyond opening the programme to an array of previously inaccessible poetry-based multimedia works, and since Ó Bhéal’s first film-with-live-poetry event was held on January 11th (Breakfast with Padraig), we’re now confident that we’re suitably able to present poets who concentrate in the ekphrastic and/or concrete realms (we have confirmed readings with poets who excel in both of these genres for later in 2016).
Ó Bhéal’s by now buRSTing! archive of poetry films, steadily growing since 2010, includes over 300 poetry films ranging from thirty seconds to ten minutes in length, and these are being screened in random from 8.30pm, every Monday played on reduced volume as people arrive. They run for an hour, until the usual proceedings commence, at 9.30pm. A single poetry film is also highlighted on the night to start off the open-mic section, the final part of the event. These include all shortlisted films entered into the annual Ó Bhéal/IndieCork International Poetry-Film Competition.
Are there any enthusiasts, entities or fans out there we wonder, who would consider sponsoring the annual Ó Bhéal poetry-film award? We’re seeking to implement a single cash prize for the winner of Best International Poetry-Film, presented at the IndieCork awards ceremony to accompany the physical award. This will attract more entries and further validate Ireland’s first such accolade. The rapidly growing genre is gradually taking hold locally too, with more and more regional entries arriving to compete each year with the world’s leading innovators in the dance of film and word. One of the two 2015 competition judges: local filmmaker Padraig Trehy {Shem the Penman Sings Again (2015); Seamus Murphy: A Quiet Revolution (2014-)}, has been having his film students translate poems into poetry-films at the Crawford College of Art and Design. Poetry and Film? It’s a truly remarkable combination of forces. When it works, it is something to behold. With two multilayered art forms working their magic in rhythm, it does seem like anything’s possible.
