Poet shares Irish culture with South audiences
by Tiffany Davis, south news editor

    An Irish poet who travels the world conducting workshops brought Peace in the New Millennium to South Campus last week.

    Desmond Egan’s presentation began with Through the Eyes of a Poet, a film that reveals the scenery of Ireland and includes background information on the poet.

    In the film Jean Pocet, a critic from France, describes Egan’s work and style.

    “The curiosity of this poet is constant. The focuses of his ideas are universal; thus, the results are poems that have attracted international attention.

    “I perceive Egan as an Irish poet because he spoke about Ireland and the Irish in a very positive way. At the same time, it is true to me that his poetry goes beyond Ireland because he includes not only other countries but the entire mankind,” he said.

    Sponsored by the English department and student activities, Egan began by thanking the South Campus for inviting him.

    “It is an honor to share the Ireland culture with TCC,” Egan said.
Egan started his poetry reading in what he called the traditional Irish way—with a song. He sang in the Irish language and told the audience that in Ireland music is greatly associated with poetry.

    Egan read several of his popular poems to the audience and welcomed questions from audience members.

    “My advice to aspiring writers is to be able to throw your own writing in the trash because if you can’t do that, then you aren’t a creative writer.”

    Egan explained how he has worked on poems. He said by the time he thought he was to the end, he would discover the poem wasn’t quite right. He would throw it away and start over.

    “I work best in the morning, and sometimes I find myself working on three or four poems at a time,” he said.

    Egan said that sometimes writing flows fast, so writers have to juggle different ideas at one time in order to work with them all. He also said it is good for people to know the time of day that they write the best.

    Born in Athlone, Ireland, and educated in Irish midlands, Egan has an M.A. from the University College-Dublin and has taught English in Newbridge.

    He has received a number of awards for his work.

    The author of 15 published books of collective poems, his collections have been translated into 10 different languages.

    Egan encouraged Americans to visit Ireland.

    “We welcome Americans because Irish people are grateful for the times that Americans welcomed the many Irishmen who fled to the United States when the potato crops dried up, and we were struggling,” he said.