Beautiful new book focusses on much-loved South Offaly river

Acclaimed Birr and Tallaght Poet Eileen Casey has just published a beautiful book of poems and photographs which celebrates the River Camcor in South Offaly.

Eileen points out that when she was growing up in Birr, where a river runs through the town, it was inevitable that her poetic sensibilities would turn to the Camcor.

“The Camcor flowed under the bridge at the bottom of High Street hill,” she said, “the street where I was born. This river formed a significant part of the back-drop to my childhood and my subsequent journey into a young adult.”

She passed over the bridge countless times, hardly ever failing to look down upon the waters, tipped with silver in the sunlight, bronzed after winter floods.

Eileen says she also likes how a river isn’t static, how it flows onwards towards its destiny. “Rivers are mystical and are a wonderful source for mythology.”

The Camcor attracts river birds and river flora, the natural world so resplendent throughout each season.

During 2023, through a Creative Ireland Award, “River Songs”, poems about rivers in County Offaly, mainly the Camcor, gradually emerged. “Visual imagery is also included in River Songs,” commented Eileen. “Tina Claffey’s wonderful photograph of a croneen in flight at the weir near Saint Brendan’s is both beautiful and heart-breaking. The croneen is under threat - numbers are dwindling due to perhaps pollution or over-fishing. Visual imagery also comes via Emma Barone, a wonderful and generous artist. Her work is stunning. Jackie Lynch is there also, her photography testimony to her prowess as an artist. BirdWatch Ireland contributed images as well. All the photographers and artists are duly acknowledged.”

During the year, Eileen facilitated poetry workshops in both Mercy Convent Primary School and Saint Brendan’s Primary School in Birr. The children’s River Poems are included in ‘Live Encounters’, an online poetry journal for young writers, which has a global readership. “Children are tremendous poets,” remarks Eileen. “It was good to spark their imaginations concerning the Camcor, the river flowing by each of the schools.

“Children have that wonderful sense of freedom when choosing an image or a descriptive phase. For example, 'When winter arrives / The Camcor becomes a captive of the ice’ or ‘The mallard has an emerald coloured head / reflecting from the sun’. Another offering describes the river as a ‘fish carrier’ by way of explaining what a kenning does; it also describes the mallard as being ‘so flamboyant’." Eileen explained that a "kenning" is an old literary device where a one word noun is described using two words, for example, a "river" is a "fish carrier".

  Eileen added that "the location, the riverbank itself, for the children, is a 'place to swim and hang out with friends’. I especially like these lines, suggestive of peace and calm while we sleep; they conjure the pleasant feeling we experience at the day’s end when everything has quietened down, or the peacefulness of sleep: 'Elegant white swans / in the Camcor River / Floating through the night.” Or “Baby croneen sleep / In the Camcor River’s cold water / during the night time'.”

  A form beloved of many Poets is the 17-syllable Japanese form the Haiku. “We can never escape math, especially true in poetry!” comments Eileen. “The Haiku’s 5/7/5 syllabic count gets students counting; 'Sleek pretty otter / Sliding in Camcor River / In the starry night.' The five senses are also an important feature of poetry, especially sound: 'One silent morning / The waterfall crashing down / under the church bridge'.”

“The poets whose lines feature in Live Encounters are Anna, Abby, Alexa, Millie, Maisie, Adam, Michael and William.

“Acknowledgements are due to: Karen Grey, Creative Ireland, County Offaly Arts. Niall Crofton, Principal Saint Brendan’s Primary School for Boys, Birr and Barbara Hanamy, Principal Mercy Primary School for Girls, Birr. The photographers and artists who feature between the pages of River Songs. John Feehan’s wonderful book about the Camcor helped with research. Bird Watch Ireland. Their generosity with photographs is most appreciated.”

  Eileen will be officially launching her book in Birr Library at 6pm on Wednesday December 13. All are welcome. Copies of the book are available in Hedgerows on Main Street, Birr.