The Poets' Shed: Michael And Pat

When I finally arrived in Strokestown on Friday night after 11.30 the drinking was well under way. I met the poet Pat Boran, who was one of the judges this year. He invited me to join him in a nearby pub when I'd checked in. At first I couldn't find the place. Then someone explained that the entrance was through a grocery shop. Sure enough, I walked in and there was another door with 'BAR' clearly written on it. Very Irish. Very countryside. And very heartening too, to see such places still flourishing: a down-to-earth, packed-to-the-gills backroom for the serious business of drink and talk, in that order. There was even a special annex outside (not part of the pub), a kind of shed which the serious smokers could retire to. I had a very enjoyable chat with Pat, Michael Carter (the director of the well-known Ledbury Festival), the poet Michael O'Loughlin and another judge, poet and Carcanet editor Michael Schmidt; I should mention that the winners are all decided well in advance of the festival, though they are not announced till Sunday evening. Anyway, we didn't talk much about poetry, if at all. Whiskey was one of the major themes, in fact the only one I can clearly remember.

N.B.
Though this was still Friday night the photo was taken well after midnight, in the small hours of Saturday.