Galway student makes Irish team at poetry festival

Having been a St Jarlath’s man for many years, I can't say I was ever deprived of the opportunity to join extra-curriculars. Like most secondary schools across the country, much was available to us pupils, from musicals to debating to – most notably – sport.

BY RYAN MANGAN

Yet, I never felt as though there were many activities at hand which saw students use their voices to express their opinions, in a non-judgmental informal environment, but instead one that would remain mostly upbeat and enjoyable.

It wasn't until my Leaving Cert year – when I crossed paths with former Cúirt Poetry Slam Champion and author of two Salmon Poetry titles, Stephen Murray – that I'd finally pinned down what I was looking for….performance poetry.

As director of Inspireland he has carried his creative writing workshops across to so many secondary schools nationally. His main mission – to inspire his students to use their voices in a way that appeals to them, in an atmosphere of respect.

When he visited St Jarlath's, we were encouraged to use poetry to open up our minds, to write about something that we cared about. He said it was a chance to express ourselves and to release some withheld emotions; no strings attached.

So I wrote 'Nursing Home.'

I was surprised at how liberating it was to write about my grandmother with old age dementia, and how the feeling of anonymity upon visits to her made me feel.

I was wrong, also, about my misconception that poetry had to be something with ample rules and restrictions. It turns out there were strings attached to it, but very good ones.

He had made an online blog as part of his company, where he'd published six thousand of his student's poems, and he chose me as one of his eight to bring onto RTÉ Arena where he would send five of us over to Atlanta for the world's largest international performance poetry festival, and HBO's American TV show, Brave New Voices.

In the months between meeting him and the final, I began my preparation by researching the festival online. Some videos from the festival had millions of views on YouTube and it was so refreshing to see this art that was, in essence, half way between written poetry and rap without the music.

It was the answer to my longing and it just so happened to be an art.

Most of my competitors were also new to the culture of performance poetry, so we got in contact and began bouncing off each other for ideas – developing strong friendships which stemmed from our new-found discovery.  We were all transformed by it.

During the RTÉ finals, we were all so impressed with each other’s words and how much life each other’s performances gave to the written poems.

I'm very blessed to say that in the end I won a place on Team Ireland. The poem I performed was entitled 'Suicide Awareness,' and, had I not discovered performance poetry, I don't think I would have ever plucked up the courage to share my views on mental health with anybody, and definitely never as openly.

Myself, Mel Kavanagh (Dublin), Iobhar Stokes (Limerick), Neasa McCormack (Clare) and Lucy Fitzgerald (Kerry), have fallen in love with performance poetry since getting involved and, as this countries pilot, we have made an oath of doing all we can to raise the profile of this art before the festival in July and hopefully, another competition over in Leeds this June.

In the coming months we look forward to writing and performing together as well as releasing videos of our work.

And it is also our mission to reach out to the public in the meantime and hopefully gain support for this initiative.

Unfortunately there is a cost involved in travel expenses and admission to the Brave New Voices Festival, so each team member has to try and raise €500.

If you’re interested in supporting me, I can assure you that no donation is too small. You can contact me on [email protected]

■ Ryan Mangan is from Belclare, Tuam. Son of Jarlath and Angelina, the St Jarlath’s past pupil is now a first year Science student in NUIG, and his poetry has been inspired by his own battle with depression and the issue of mental illness among teenagers.