It was a night for poetic musings. Brendan Kennelly stood happily in the middle, sandwiched between two red-heads - Louis de Paor and Rita Ann Higgins. Poets all, the perfect pose. Smile. They did.
It was a week of poetry and prose. In Dublin Castle, they spoke to mark the United Nation's International Year of Volunteers, recalling the people who work in a voluntary capacity in different organisations and community groups all through the year.
A handful of poets were asked to write about volunteers to mark the year. "The real givers are those who receive, who are aware of life as a gift," said Kennelly, who co-presented the evening in the castle's Coachhouse with Doireann N∅ Bhriain.
Father Michael Mernagh, of the South Inner City Community Development Association, was among those who sat to listen to poems from de Paor and Higgins as well as work from Dennis O'Driscoll, MβighrΘad Medhb and the youngest poet of the night, David Maybury (17), who is studying for his Leaving Cert at Colβiste Choilm near his home in Oldtown, Co Meath.
Their work has been printed on cards, which will be distributed around the country, says Marguerite Bourke, of the National Committee on Volunteering.
"A poem has to volunteer itself," says O'Driscoll, whose book of critical essays, Troubled Thoughts, Majestic Dreams, is due out this week from the Gallery Press (his most recent collection of poetry, Weather Permitting, was shortlisted for this year's Irish Times Poetry Prize).
Awaiting the publication of a book is like expecting a baby, he said. But, he continued, he doesn't know whether it's going to be a boy or a girl yet. For those who would like to attend a reading by MβighrΘad Medhb, who is from Newcastle West in Co Limerick, she'll be in full flight on Sunday, November 18th in Bewley's Museum on Grafton Street, at 8 p.m.
Also taking part was the dramatic Camilla Dorcey, who has been a teacher of multi-cultural studies in Ireland for many years. Wearing a great black and red turban and a long dress, Dorcey, who recently married American Brian Dodson, brought the show to a rousing finale with her dance/chant performance - a poem in motion for all the volunteers.