SPIRITS OF THE PAST New Poetry Collection, The Midnight Moon Sings of Murder, by Poet Laureate Mary Ann Mulhern STORY BY MICHAEL SEGUIN
50
W i n d s o r
L i f e
Mary recalls. “So I took it. It was taught by John B. Lee, the Poet Laureate of Brantford. He’s a well-known Canadian poet. He told me my work had potential.” Thanks to her mentor’s encouragement, Mary entered the Freedom Festival Poetry Contest in 2001, where her poem “Freedom’s Rail” won first prize. This brought her to the attention of Marty Gervais, the publisher of Black Moss Press. “The first time Marty met me, he said, ‘Tell me about yourself,’” Mary states. “So I told him about living in a cemetery and entering a convent. He told me later that he didn’t believe a word I said. It was too unbelievable! But, when I started bringing him some poems about the convent, he said, ‘Oh my God. This is going to be a book.’” Mary’s first collection of poetry, The Red Dress, was published in 2003. Since then, Mary has published eight books with Black Moss Press, including Touch the Dead, which was shortlisted for the Acorn-Plantos Award in 2007, and When Angels Weep, which details the sexual abuses of Chatham’s Father Charles Sylvester. After almost 20 years of writing, Mary was named Windsor’s Poet Laureate in 2019. The Midnight Moon Sings of Murder is Mary’s latest collection of poems published by Black Moss Press. The volume chronicles the infamous Donnelly Massacre, where a family of Irish settlers
▼
The Donnelly Massacre took place at midnight, on January 4th, 1880, when the local vigilance committee stormed the family’s log cabin. Five members of the Donnelly family were murdered in their beds. Later, William Donnelly, the eldest surviving son, erected a black marble tombstone, sharing the morbid tale. This action spoke to Mary Ann Mulhern, who learned earlier than most that tombstones whisper stories. “My father was the caretaker of Holy Angels Cemetery, in St. Thomas,” Mary explains. “For my brothers and I, our playground was the cemetery. We lived at the cemetery house. People often came to the house to talk to my father. There were no survivor programs at the time, no programs to help people cope. My father was a very intelligent, very compassionate man. Even though I was too young to really understand, in later years I realized that he was, in fact, helping them with their grief. Maybe this was an unusual background for some people. But I think it’s great for a writer!” To call Mary’s life interesting is an understatement. After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Education degrees from the University of Windsor, Mary entered the convent— which she describes as a “mysterious, silent place.” There, Mary endured the loneliest period of her life. When Mary left the convent eight years later, she had no savings, no friends, was almost 30 and stranded in an unfamiliar city: Windsor. Instead of despairing, Mary carved out a life for herself. She continued to teach, living in a boarding house for two years before scraping enough funds together to rent an apartment. She borrowed money from friends to purchase a car. And before long, she was calling Windsor home. “Being sent to Windsor was the best thing that ever happened to me!” Mary explains. “The convent did me a big favour. Windsor is so friendly. I love Windsor! I think it’s a great city. There’s wonderful people here. It’s really made something of itself.” Mary taught with the Windsor Separate School Board for over 30 years. However, she was not retired long before discovering another calling. “The summer I retired from teaching, I saw a course being advertised for beginning writers at the University of Windsor,”
