Per Petterson on death

Difficult to write about, as a reader I find I am usually left feeling bereft after I read about it.  Not because of the inherent fear of it but because someone else's interpretation of it is so far off the mark of my own.  Until I read this from "I Curse the River of Time" by Per Petterson. Heart-breaking.

"But when it came to dying, I was scared. Not of being dead, that I could not comprehend, to be nothing was impossible to grasp and therefore really nothing to be scared of, but dying itself I could not comprehend, the very instant when you know that now comes what you have always feared, and you suddenly realise that every chance of being the person you really wanted to be, is gone forever, and the one you were, is the one those around you remember. Then that must feel like someone's strong hands slowly tightening their grip around your neck until you can breath no more, and not at all as when a door is slowly pushed open and bright light comes streaming out from the inside and a woman or a man you have always known and always liked, maybe always loved, leans out and gently takes your hand and leads you in to a place of rest, so mild and so fine, from eternity to eternity."

All Ireland Poetry Day at the Irish Writers' Centre

I'll be reading at the All Ireland Poetry Day at the Irish Writers' Centre at 2.30 tomorrow.  You can catch the live stream here (from 10am to 5pm on Thursday 3rd October) a day-long live streaming of poetry by Ireland's finest poets.
Poetry Ireland will host a six hour live stream from the Irish Writers' Centre in Parnell Square, Dublin, which will feature readings by Dermot Bolger, Peter Sirr, Theo Dorgan and Enda Wyley, among many others, as well as a panel discussion involving the new Ireland Chair of Poetry, Paula Meehan.
Other organisations and groups around the country will be part of the live transmission as they upload their own films of events in their own areas. The live stream will also feature a special tribute to Seamus Heaney by Dublin school childen, as well as film of Brendan Kennelly reading his poetry. .
Venue: Irish Writers Centre, Parnell Square, D1
Time: Thursday @ 10.00am - 4.00pm