Madam, – I enjoyed Olivia O’Leary’s feature (Arts Books, Weekend Review, March 26th) on Seamus Heaney, but wish to correct a statement which she might nor realise is misleading.
She attributes words to me which were never spoken, I allegedly saying to Seamus Heaney, “When, for fuck’s sake, are you going to write/Something for us?” The incident occurred over 31 years ago when, it is true, I did approach Seamus on the Dublin train and was seeking moral support for the blanket men (the hunger strike had not yet started) and the women prisoners in Armagh.
Apparently, the encounter informed his treatment of his subsequent poem Flight Path.
Firstly, in Denis O'Driscoll's book, Stepping Stones, Seamus Heaney makes it clear that, "I make the speaker a bit more aggressive than he was at the time." Secondly, having spoken to Seamus a year ago we both agree that our memories of that incident don't exactly coincide: We met at nine/We met at eight./I was on time/No, you were late./Ah, yes, I remember it well!
And by the way, before Fine Gael, I also suggested to him that the laureate of presidency was there for the taking! – Yours, etc,