IN CELEBRATION of what fellow poet Chris Agee called Séamus Heaneys “unstinting generosity of spirit”, 17 poets took to the stage on Saturday for a Séamus Heaney Birthday Tribute, as part of the DLR Poetry Now Festival.
To a packed Pavilion theatre, with the Nobel prize-winning poet in the front row, poets from all over the world read poems of their choosing from Heaney’s body of work to date, the scope, seriousness and soul-grabbing beauty of his words a reminder to all present of the reason for such celebration.
Following the readings in accents varied, which included a recitation of the first translation of Heaneys Mid-Term Breakinto Lithuanian by poet Tomas Venclova as well as readings by Robert Pinsky, Carol Ann Duffy, Ian Duhig, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Frank Bidart among others, Heaney was presented with a Hughie ODonoghue painting titled The Inheritance.
The poet, who turns 70 on April 13th, told an audience of what presenter John Kelly recalled were not only friends and colleagues but also fans, that he was “really overwhelmed” by the present and presence of so many of his colleagues.
Heaney paid tribute to festival curator Belinda McKeon, to poet Robert Pinsky for his keynote address at the festival, and in characteristic deflection and deference to his fellow poets, threaded the words of others through his own.
Quoting Bidart's lines – The love I 've known is the love of two people staring/not at each other, but in the same direction– Heaney added, in reference to the stage full of poets: "The joy of this occasion has not been the experience of being looked at, but the experience of being a true brother of that company."
Heaney went on to read three of his own works, ending with the poem In the Attic, a signed broadsheet edition of which had been handed out to all in attendance.
Earlier in the same day, Belfast poet Derek Mahon received the Irish TimesPoetry Now Award at the same venue for his collection Life on Earth, published by Gallery Books.