Words of reassurance are among those being shared today as part of Poetry Day Ireland, with one initiative in the event seeing some people who are cocooning receiving phone calls from poets.
The annual celebration of the spoken and written word, organised by Poetry Ireland, is now in its sixth year.
This year's theme, There Will Be Time, appears fitting in the current circumstances, with people separated due to coronavirus restrictions, and many people wondering when life can return to some sort of normality.
However, this is a poetic coincidence, as the theme was chosen last autumn, many months before the Covid-19 pandemic came to dominate the popular consciousness.
Poetry Ireland said the theme "was partly chosen as 2020 is a leap year, when we gain an extra day of time that didn’t exist in the previous year".
However, it added: "Today, the theme of time resonates with us in another way due to the impact of the Covid-19 measures on our daily lives and our sense of time passing. Each poem is, in a way, a time machine – travelling to the past or the present or the future, examining the way we were, are, and hope to be."
One initiative among many events planned for the national celebration of poetry will see a number of individuals who are cocooning receive a phone call from a writer or poet, who will read them two reassuring poems.
The Poetry Line was organised by Poetry Ireland and members of Aosdána. Registration is now closed.
This year, Poetry Day Ireland is being dedicated to the poet Eavan Boland, who passed away earlier this week.
More information on the events is available at poetryireland.ie
Seven Cork poets have recorded short readings of their poems to air online as part of Poetry Day.
Cork County Council Library & Arts Services is inviting the public "to pause and partake in a poetic feast, expertly crafted by modern bards that encapsulate the spirit of Cork".
Let's begin Poetry Day with Daragh Breen reading two poems from his recent collection, Nostoc, from Shearsman Books. This first poem is titled 'Bird movement above the Viaduct, N71’.#PoetryDayIrl #PoetryDay #StayInReadPoetry #LovePoetry #StayHome @ShearsmanBooks @Corkcoco pic.twitter.com/cxJPkHsNlx
— Cork County Council Library & Arts Service (@corkcolibrary) April 30, 2020
