PACKIE BONNER'S famous save at Italia 90, and the enjoyment of playing Gaelic football, have inspired some of the poems in Evidence of Freewheeling, the debut collection from Trevor Conway.
The title of the Salthill based writer's collection comes from a teacher’s report card he received at the end of 4th Year in secondary school. The poem about Packie Bonner was inspired by a letter Trevor wrote to the former Celtic and Ireland goalkeeper. “The photo I sent came back with Packie’s signature, which my teacher, Mr McDonnell, kissed once he saw it," Trevor recalls. "I also had the cheek to ask Packie for ‘merchandise’. Unsurprisingly, it was a letter I got back, not a parcel.”
As well as poems about sport, Trevor also writes about nature, creativity, death, growing older, and the internet, as well as the two counties that have shaped him - Galway and Sligo.
Evidence of Freewheeling, published by Salmon Poetry, will be launched in the Town Hall Theatre this Saturday at 2pm, where Lorna Shaughnessy's new poetry collection, Anchored, will also be launched. The guest speakers are poets Kevin Higgins and Sarah Clancy. All are welcome.
