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THE SCALDY DETAIL 2007

EDITORIAL …

The response that the first issue of THE SCALDY DETAIL garnered from readers, writers, and from the media was so positive that Launch Pad decided that there should be a follow-up. The first call for submissions went out in midsummer and the word was quickly filtered down through both the print and online media. As with the last issue, we sought work from writers who were born in County Wexford, were at present living in the county, or whose submissions explored, thematically, the county in some way. Many more submissions than could be published were received and this made selection difficult. Also, many of the submissions received were from writers whose work had not appeared in the first issue and this is a great testament to the volume and variety of creative work being written in the county at present. I am certain that after reading this issue you will be as excited as I was in encountering such high-quality work written by new writers. This issue also features the work of well-published Wexford writers to give the reader a wider view of the work being written by Wexford-born writers in various literary genres. In this way, THE SCALDY DETAIL 2007 is a hot link between Wexford’s past, present, and future.

– EAMONN WALL, DECEMBER 2007

CONTENTS …

Mogue Doyle … Fruits For The Widow Flynn

Liz Mellon … The Color Of Light

Larry Kirwan … Hilly Crystal, CBGB's And Wexford Town

Katie Donovan … How High A Tree Could Be / The Game Of Sleep

Andy Doyle … Generations

Pat Maddock … A Road Since Nineteen Sixty-Three / Foxgloves

Betty Thompson … Courtyard / Elegy For Donal McCann

Dervla Tierney … A Career Woman

Mary O’Brien … Purchases

Andrew Caldicott … Under-6 Hurling / After The Opera, Johnstown Castle

James Liddy … New Anthem

Angie Fox … Waiting

Drucilla Wall … Wild Orchids

Orna Ross … A Dance In Time

Patrick Kehoe … The Boys Of The County Mayo / Love Poem

Denis Collins … Lost

Norman Darlington, John W. Sexton & Carole MacRury … She Brings Me Smoke

Gertrude Sheahan … Golden Years

M.J. O’Reilly … Fishers of Men

J.P. Barnes … Rattle

Maria Clifford … The Wake

Paul O’Reilly … A Friend And Father

Niall Wall … The End Of History

Sylvia Cullen … Monologue

P.J. Nolan … By The Connigar / Hail By

John B. Atkinson … Spring

Hugh Kelly … Saint Senan’s Churchyard

Paul O’Reilly … The Pikehead

Margaret Galvin … The Wardrobe Mistress / Thin

Eamonn Wall … Slobs

John Kelly … The Barn / Whispering In The BeBo Dorm

Michael Ryan … A Walk

Margaret Breen … The River

Philip Quirke … Dig

Philip Casey … Long After I’m Gone

THE SCALDY DETAIL 2005

"... an anthology of some of the best modern writing in the (Wexford) county, with contributions from poets, short story writers, novelists, essayists, playwrights, etc." - The Echo

"There is an express need for such outlets to highlight the literary talents which abound in this part of the country. The Scaldy Detail contains poems, stories and extracts from an astounding number of contributers and is great to dip into or read straight through." - South East Voice

"What a bag of talent!" - A distingushed actor

Published 11/01/2006

This publication grew quite naturally from the many Launch Pad nights that have place at various venues in Enniscorthy between 2003 and the present. Launch Pad’s mission is to provide a platform for aspiring writers in the area where they can meet to play their songs and tunes, read their poems, stories, and memoirs. It is essential that we provide venues for artists where they can gather and allow their work out into the world. Failure to do this may push them under-the-radar: all of us believe that what we write should be heard and read. It is a triumph of Launch Pad that it has managed to provide not just a series of places where people can gather to listen and perform, but also places of such warm ambience and understated style. Also, Launch Pad evenings, despite their serious intentions, are fun and full of moments of wild humour where everyone can feel comfortable. Aspiring artists, unlike sportsmen and women, are not confined by age and in this way those that have appeared at the events, and are part of this collection, truly reflect the community’s demographics. Another feature of our evenings has been the time given to the project by writers who have already been widely published and this has helped Launch Pad develop. For this publication, I have gathered together submissions from many who took part in the evenings, from those who participated in the July 2004 poetry and fiction workshops, and from others who will read with us at the launch of this publication for the first time. Our writers have their fingers on the pulses of both our history and our present, let us hear and read what it is they have to say today.

Eamonn Wall - Editor

THE CONTRIBUTORS

© Enniscorthy Launch Pad 2004