S3 Episode 4: Poetry and Pain

The Irish Passport

Society & Culture

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2019

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Newry woman visits her big brother in Paris. The two share a drink and talk all night. The next morning, he leaves instructions for taking the metro, and disappears. His family never see him again. The story of Anne Morgan’s 32-year search for her missing brother Seamus is just one told in this episode, the second in a two-part series on the theme of dealing with the past. We speak to Damien McNally of Belfast’s Wave Trauma Centre about how trauma can be passed down from one generation to the next, and the implications of providing front-line care while political deadlock prevents wider societal change. Historian Roy Foster of Oxford University discusses Ireland’s culture of dealing with the past and how it differs from the mood in Britain as Brexit looms. From historical inquiries to ‘Derry Girls’, we explore different routes to closure: through justice, truth-seeking, or creativity. This episode concludes with an exclusive reading by poet Gail McConnell of her poem about the Long Kesh breakout and the death of her father, ‘Start Out’. This is the first of a two-part series on the issue of dealing with the past, dedicated to the memory of murdered journalist Lyra McKee. You can read ‘Suicide of the Ceasefire Babies’, the essay which inspired these episodes, here. ’Start Out’ is published in Fourteen by Gail McConnell (Green Bottle Press, 2018): https://greenbottlepress.com/order-form/our-books/ Featuring editing by Alan Meaney http://alanmeaney.ie/ . Special thanks to Emma Rainey of Fem-Vibes podcast for reading an excerpt of Lyra McKee’s writing for us. For bonus episodes, support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/theirishpassport. Season 3 of The Irish Passport podcast is made with the kind support of Biddy Murphy, online sellers of genuine Irish goods. Check them out on www.biddymurphy.com. The music you heard in this episode is Night II, by Swelling, and Serial Killer, by John Bartmann. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @PassportIrish.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Patricia O'Flaherty and I'm from Stokesdown and Count of Roscommon, which is in the west of Ireland.
0:04.7	The name of my handcraft business is Neve-Porick Handcrafts.
0:07.9	Patricia O'Flaherty of Stokes Town County Roscommon makes her living through a truly ancient craft, weaving baskets and other items from rushes from the riverbed.
0:19.8	You cut the rushes in the first of the harvesting, that's the first thing I have to do.
0:24.0	You cut them low down on the riverbed with a sickle or a reaping hook, as we call it,
0:29.2	and then you tie them into sheaves or bundles, and you dry them out slowly indoors.
0:35.0	Her specialty is something uniquely Irish, St Bridget's Crosses. These are crosses
0:40.6	with four arms of equal length that are traditionally woven yearly in Ireland and hung up in the
0:46.3	house in a springtime ritual connected to one of Ireland's patron saints, which is thought to have
0:51.9	origins in Ireland's ancient Celtic past.
0:55.1	It is said to keep away evil and want, so it was a good luck charm, if you like, the Stringes Cross.
1:01.7	Different regions of Ireland have their own traditional weaving patterns.
1:05.5	Many of these have been lost to history, but Patricia has been researching to find and preserve
1:10.7	all the varieties she can.
1:12.9	I met her recently at the Design Fair Showcase Ireland, and Patricia talked me through the different
1:18.3	St Bridget's crosses that she makes. That range was from County Clare. This one here is the three-armed
1:24.5	design, and that's practiced quite a lot in northern Ireland. I think
1:30.1	it was motivated by the Trinity, like three in one. It could be Arama, we're not sure, but definitely
1:35.6	the north. This one here is called the Gauls Eye Range and that's a combination of willow and
1:42.3	rush and that's made in Donegal and North Mayo.
1:47.3	Patricia currently makes six different varieties of St Bridget Crosses for sale through her company,
1:53.1	Neve Porick Handcrafts.
	...

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