We read in
Offaly Express about a new pamphlet celebrating Banagher's folklore and history:
A Place of Pointed Stones
by Jessica Traynor
As we read Jessica's excellent poems we realise Poetry Ireland Review was correct when it wrote, “This poet is capable of creating canonical work which draws on a contemporary re-thinking of poetic traditions while finding a voice that is wholly her own.” .” She has a great facility for creating images which resonate deeply in the reader's mind, such as this image in the final poem, “Sound fades into silence again, waiting for the next day to begin."
Another of the poems touches on Charlotte Bronte's father Patrick and his habit of wildly discharging his firearm. Patrick had lived through periods of Luddite and Chartist violence which often targeted clergymen. Being a clergyman himself he remained alert to possible future outbursts of violence. He therefore would place a loaded pistol beside his bed at night, and would discharge the bullet by firing it from his bedroom window across the graveyard every morning. Jessica said there's anecdotal evidence that because Charlotte hated this troublesome behaviour she stole the pistol and threw it into the Shannon from Banagher bridge when she was in the town on honeymoon. (Derek Fanning)
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