A Shrine to Womanhood
Many years ago a young woman, to whom I sent packages of Irish poetry book every other month, sat in my office and requested that I send her no more poetry written by women. Somewhat taken aback by the request, I asked why to which she replied: “Because they are not romantic enough” The answer has intrigued me ever since and it is only when I read through this collection From the Stones that I came close to a sense of its deeper meaning.The whole concept of Womanhood remains for most men and some women something of a mystery and therefore to be approached with caution. Because of this miscomprehension there is a tendency to either stereotype or idolise the gender leading to prejudice or infatuation. The spirit and reality of what it is to be a woman is totally ignored.
The new book just published by Evensong Publications a Press based in Co Limerick and a collaboration between Mary Kennelly the poet born in Tarbert Co Kerry and Brenda Fitzmaurice the artist from Ballylongford in the same county fully and honestly goes a long way to address this.
From the first poem “Whisperings” accompanied by the painting “Lislaughlin From Saleen”, the reader is brought on an incredible journey of discovery which is as wonderful and informative as it is real and spirited.Perhaps this sprit is best exemplified in the poem “Eye of the Beholder”:
Here, I am in a woman’s world, A temple of beauty hidden away From fool who think that nature Cast her bounty freely over us. Cleopatra is my sister as I take My place on beauty’s altar. I am sealed by the warm and perfumed wax Knowing, as Eve knew, that there is A price to be paid for wanting more. Yet I am always unprepared For the viciousness of the tug That waters up my eyes and Clenches both my teeth and nails. The priestess looks upon her work And smiles, examining scorched earth – There are no survivors left. Aphrodite is echoes in her words As she continues on her torturous path – “Beauty feels no pain”.
The poems and the paintings are imbued with a fierce energy that doesn’t ask for but demands understanding but once the commitment is made by the reader to at least meet the artists half way, the work becomes tolerant and understanding not to say almost maternal.
The subtitle to this collection – A Homage to Place through Painting and Poetry – is somewhat misleading. The poems and the paintings do reflect the North Kerry landscape certainly, but the real “Place” of this book is the female of the human species in all her vicissitudes and to open its pages is to fully experience the sinew, heart and soul of woman with no punches pulled. For the unwary traveller it is a journey fraught with physicality, pain, suffering, tenderness, beauty, loneliness, motherhood, girlhood, wonder, disillusion, maturity, love, hate and self-fulfilment characterised by a driving energy that leaves the reader breathless.
The depth of the female experience present in these pages is such that to fully appreciate the total humanity of the gender, the book needs to be read several times. Personally it is an honour and privilege to invite you to visit this shrine with the caveat that it carries with it a health warning but with the full assurance that it is a journey well worth taking as it greatly enriches our knowledge and understanding of the wonder that is Woman. From the Stones is a book that deserves, nay demands, our deepest respect.