Ability West poets display their skills

POEMS covering diverse topics from market day in Dunmore to the potholes in Tuam were among those read by service users at Ability West's Team Products' premises last Friday as a booklet of poems they had penned was launched.[private] The budding poets entertained all present with a selection of their poems at a very enjoyable cultural morning of poetry reading, music and song. Even some of the guests joined in, including Deputy Michael Kitt and Fr Stephen Farragher who each read their favourite poems penned by well-known poets from the past. But the day belonged to the Team Products' poets, and staff member Noreen Burns described the event as a resounding success. She said the inspiration for getting the service users involved in writing poetry came from a visit to NUIG for a Going to College day. 'I brought this idea into our classes here and as there was such a good reaction we went ahead with the project,' says Noreen. The booklet published by Team Products has 27 poems written by service users. Sarah Roarty, CEO of Tuam Chamber of Commerce, selected the top three poems at Friday's event. The winning poem, Market Day by Catriona Diskin manages to capture the happenings at market day in Dunmore very well in a mere twelve lines. In your mind's eye you can almost taste the salty butter, the potato cakes or the roast bacon on sale or dance along to the tunes of the musicians on the streets of Dunmore during market day. The poem that was selected for second prize is The Ballina Bus by Kathleen Haran and it has the reader merrily bumping along the roads of Mayo in a bus with a driver who seems to be in jovial mood. Jimmy Sweeney highlights more difficult travelling conditions along the paths of Tuam in the poem that took third place. He points out how the potholes and the electricity poles make it difficult for him to traverse the town in his wheelchair. His poem is appropriately titled Potholes and Poles. 'Every poem was crafted in a way that displayed the personalities of the service users and it was brilliant the way they put their poems together with a little help from the staff,' says Mary Margaret Garvey of Ability West. The CEO of the organisation, Breda Crehan-Roche who was among the attendance also praised all involved with the project. Apart from the winners, all the other budding poets were complimented on their works. The slogan on the inside back cover of the poetry booklet said it all. It stated that 'not everyone can be a star, but we can all ­twinkle'.[/private]