An Offaly woman's story of suffering and hope is beautifully told

ON the 19th of September, the whole country goes ‘cultural’ - has done so for twenty years. In a swoop of family-orientated and delightfully diverse events, in all manner of locations, in each of our counties. From musical performances to dance; creative ‘have a go’ workshops, to theatre shows; from the beginnings and endings of storytelling, to poetry.
At Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, Jackie Lynch launched her new book, a collection of poetry.
This is a beautifully presented chapbook of 38 Haiku poems. In these past few years, it is apparently true that an ever-wider spread of generations are reaching back into poetry, for emotional expression and comfort. Whether in vexatious and emotional circumstances or contemplative like a prayer; viscerally observational, or something akin to a short story, in rhyme.
Good poems, in whichever form (and they are numerous) all have their particular structures which categorize and label them as Villanelles, Quatrains, Elegies, Odes, Free Verse, and more. One of - if not the most challenging of poetic forms - is the Haiku. Originating in Japan, these are exquisitely distilled observations, usually of nature. To quote pithy performance poet John Cooper Clarke on the essential strictures of Haiku: ‘To freeze the moment
In 17 syllables
Is very diffic’
Jackie experienced her ‘freezing moment’ when hospital diagnoses had revealed the near collapse of vital internal organs. Over the past year she has undergone the parallel treatments of chemotherapy and dialysis. And during those hours spent at Tullamore Hospital, in the care of nurses of whom she speaks gratefully and so highly, her artist’s imagination was all that could roam freely. To the accompaniment of those very particular soft sounds made by the machines to which one is necessarily conjoined, she began her pathway into poetry. Pen on paper. Jackie has become a doyenne of this written artform.
Why Haiku? Having graduated from art school in the ‘abroad’ of Ulster, she became the first recipient of a year-long scholarship to study woodblock printing at a renowned academy in China. Following this, she won a scholarship to study the language and woodblock printmaking in Kyoto: an exquisite old city of Japan. The beautiful language is scribed in both the simpler Japanese form, as well as Chinese calligraphic form. Nippon Koku translates as The Land of The Rising Sun, and during the country’s era of self-isolation, artists, craftspeople, from the literate to the warriors, honed extraordinary skills, and beauty. Art and making flourished.
It is many years ago since she lived in Asia, yet in this health crisis and body-shock, the philosophical, artistic and cultural influences of the East, revived in her, and took effect upon her psyche. It was to Haiku that she was drawn.
Light Chains is available for sale at Kelly’s Art & Stationery Supplies, and of course on the local author and heritage bookshelves at Supervalu. Gift a copy or two to self and to another - into the shopping basket, between hedonistic cakes and a Sushi tray? Once home, it is the purchaser’s quiet time for a ceremony of tea and tome. With pristine hands, pause to appreciate this elegantly produced chapbook. Run fingertips softly and meditatively around its cover’s edge, to prepare before opening. The serene square of white has an abstract image at one corner. There is a longer story to what is an image of the original handcrafted necklace. Worn the night of the launch, it was designed by Jackie and handmade by craftsman Kevin Dwyer. Kanpeki is the Japanese word meaning flawless / perfection. Within and without, her book is exactly that from cover to cover - from the prose of the foreword and introduction. But do prepare yourself. For inside, each of the minimal verses pack jolts of shock, and bluntness. They carry one from those beginnings in darkness, into her light of recovery. Always with love throughout, for which she dedicates this masterpiece to her loves, Declan and Eva, ‘Who never left my side.’