<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">You are cordially invited to join us for a virtual poetry reading featuring Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin <div class=""><br class=""><div class="">Saturday, December 16</div></div><div class="">from 10:00 to 10:30 AM PDT</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is no need to pre-register; just click this link: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85828413513?pwd=RzNJRm1DemtLZzNBc2FyYWpzeG5OZz09" class="">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85828413513?pwd=RzNJRm1DemtLZzNBc2FyYWpzeG5OZz09</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h4 class="ydpd80ede44fadeIn ydpd80ede44preFade" style="font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px;">I learned to love my own voice, <br class="">making a friend of it, fashioning<br class="">a fountain pen to master<br class="">the phantom language</h4><p class="ydpd80ede44preFade ydpd80ede44fadeIn ydpd80ede44sqsrte-small" style="font-size: 16px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;">– excerpt from 'Early Music' by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin</p><div style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class="">Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin is a renowned singer, poet, and speaker from Limerick, Ireland. His artistic identity lives on the threshold between things. He is a master of several worlds of music and poetic performance. His way in the world exists between laughter and poignancy. </div><div style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class="">His first book of poetry, Early Music, is published on David Whyte's Many Rivers Press (Seattle). It is a collection that delves into his experience of Irish mythology, music, landscape and spirituality. He has been a poetic apprentice of sorts to David over the past 15 years and is deeply influenced by his work. He will recited his own poetry and some of the great pieces of the Irish poetic canon. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class="">Mícheál also applies his artistry creating experiences in Ireland each summer called Turas d'Anam (Journey of Your Soul), where he works with his brother, Owen, and their mother, Nóirín Ní Riain. <a href="http://www.turasdanam.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="enhancr_card_0661997602" style="font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Turas d’Anam</a> </div></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-size: 19.2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: proxima-nova;" class=""><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px;" class=""><b class=""><div class="ydp62bc3932page" title="Page 77"><div class="ydp62bc3932layoutArea"><div class="ydp62bc3932column"><p class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook; font-style: italic;" class="">Lough Gur / Plunged Through</span></p></div></div></div></b></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px;" class=""><div class="ydp3d4c78b3pg-1m0 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1ff1 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1fs0 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1fc0 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1sc0 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1ls0 ydp3d4c78b3t ydp3d4c78b3pg-1ws0 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1h3 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1x1 ydp3d4c78b3pg-1y2" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" style="unicode-bidi: bidi-override; font-family: pg-1ff1; line-height: 0.975586; visibility: visible; text-shadow: none; min-height: 48.625px;"><div class="ydp826cad60page" title="Page 77"><div class="ydp826cad60layoutArea"><div class="ydp826cad60column"><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">Two lads cutting rushes </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">plunged their sickle through it. </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">The hollow thud of bronze unearthed </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">ceremonial shield and sun sign, offering</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">to the Goddess Áine,</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">who lives beneath Lough Gur, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">watching the surface.</span></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">My grandmother conceived by this shore </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">and my mother was born. </span><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">But before that, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">Paddy and Nora skated on the frozen lough</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">only for Nora to plunge through, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">pulled up by the hair by </span><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">my grandfather </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">a</span><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">fter she </span><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">had already given up.</span></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">Nora maintained she felt the Goddess Áine, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">dragging her down to her depths.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">An enticing urge.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">I can feel my grandmother sinking in this lake, letting go </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">of her young love and her future family, and feeling </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">that it could be </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">good to leave this world. </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">Confident in her saviour.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div><div class="ydp826cad60page" title="Page 78"><div class="ydp826cad60layoutArea"><div class="ydp826cad60column"><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">This prehistoric space, where each undulation is a hoard, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: BemboBook;" class="">and treasure lies among the rushes once a holy offering.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">Lough Gur beneath Knockaney, Lough Gur beneath Knockadoon </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">that birthed my mother, </span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class="">and spared hers.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin</span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false" class=""><span style="font-family: BemboBook; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="5366C884-5858-4F8F-8230-41C814B5327A" width="500" height="280" src="cid:35E05BB0-C5B0-445E-9403-757BD2635C37" class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>