Creative Writing
o t n i l m u r C From n w o t s g i r r Ca Eileen Casey profiles poet Pauline Fayne
Pauline Fayne: ‘I’m very much a splurge writer. There’s always paper and pen near me – some in every coat and handbag, so I end up finding random ideas in the strangest places and at the oddest times!’ In the year of super rock star Philip Lynott’s 35th anniversary (20th August – 4th January, 1986), it’s appropriate to highlight a Crumlin born poet who drew inspiration from Lynott ‘running past our house’, even before he reached the dizzying heights of stardom. So much has been written about Lynott’s descent into ill health and his eventual passing as a result of addiction. However, it’s quite disarming to meet the young man who flashed his ‘brilliant smile/At the cameraman/Striding towards stardom’. The cameraman, as it happens, is none other than poetry stalwart Michael O’Flanagan, an unsung hero who has done much for poetry over the years (his broadsheet Riposte helped many a fledgling writer into print and revived a traditional printing form in the process). Thanks to Michael, some rare footage exists which showcases the early talent of Lynott when he was part of ‘The Black Eagles’. Cue Pauline Fayne, one of those ‘Giggling teens/In ‘budgie’ jackets/Trip Hazard flares/And high wedge heels’. While Lynott was forging a national and subsequently an international career with Thin Lizzy, (their 1973 hit ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ rocketed to number one in the UK charts), Pauline was living her life, marrying husband Terry and settling down in Tallaght, at the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. Although Lynott was born in Hallam Hospital, West Bromwich, England, he grew up in Crumlin with his Irish mother, Philomena. While writing poetry began at an early age for Pauline, Lynott was no stranger himself to lyrical expression. His first book of poetry, Songs for 58 Senior Times l May - June 2021 l www.seniortimes.ie
While I’m Away, was published in 1974. 21 poems, all but one, featuring the lyrics from Thin Lizzy songs is now a collector’s treasure. Only 1,000 copies of that first edition were printed in total. Although a second volume was issued in 1997, both books were brought together in a single volume, again titled Songs for While I’m Away. This second print features illustrations by Tim Booth and Jim Fitzpatrick, the latter very generously granting permission to reproduce some of his artwork here. Serendipity is a marvel, I sometimes think. As Pauline watched that film, wishing she’d been in her garden that particular day, ‘Shyly waving among the wallflowers’, a poem was born. Such are the seeds that blossom into the poetic life. It’s also good to have a mentor, a guiding light. In Pauline’s case, it was her mother’s diligence in showing her young daughter clippings from newspapers of poems written by Pauline’s grandfather Cathal Lally. At sixteen, Pauline sent a poem about the women of Moore Street into the Evening Press and they kindly included it in their letters page. It would be fair to say that Pauline mostly writes about working class life, though not exclusively. In her early twenties she joined a Writers Workshop organised by national treasure Dermot Bolger in The Grapevine Arts Centre on North Great Georges Street and around about then, she began her yearly visit to Listowel Writers Week Festival. This annual pilgrimage is also a casualty of Covid-19 although in fairness, online events go some way towards redress. Still, it’s not the same, she’s the first to agree.
