THE POET RYAN

A Tree in Autumn at Westfields, Limerick

GOSSAMER -

AN AUTUMN POEM

For Kitty Bredin

I saw a leaf, arrested in it’s fall,
Hang upon the dreaming air;
As by some sleight of wizard hand
‘Twas fixed there.

Like a stopped pendulum it hung
Unmoved, unstirred
By any breath of wind
Or any bird.

Gerard 'The Poet' Ryan

A LIVING LEGEND

When I was growing up in Limerick city I early on learned to love poetry and this was encouraged by a very active local poetry scene known as the ‘Castle Poets’,steered by the indomitable Kitty Bridin. The group met weekly in a turret of King Johns Castle for readings and I remember one particularly stunning evening where the assembled poets read in its entirety The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh. The readings took place under the medieval glow of candle and torch light adding in buckets to the atmosphere, if not the warmth and comfort of the draughty tower. Ah, in those days we really suffered for our art ! Gerard Ryan, known affectionately by all as The Poet Ryan was a sort of living legend in those days in the late sixties, early seventies. I saw him as the archetypal poet, living in poor circumstances in the City Home (previously the local workhouse!) and often seen out and about on the streets of Limerick dressed shabbily, his thoughts lost in poetic muse ( or that’s the way it seemed to me, back then!).And he wrote some beautiful poetry like this one…

Gerard O'Shea