Live Encounters Poets on Poetry July 2026
How does one become a poet? by Terry McDonagh.
Poetry is and always has been with us. To a greater or lesser degree, it is lodged in the bones, lore and legend in every community, person and society. The Irish poet, Michael Longley, said, if I knew where poetry came from, I’d go there. We need music and song to put shape on our lives, history and emotions – we need words to tell our tales. Poetry, a special arrangement of words, is part of what we are, but certain people, we call poets, seem to be handed the task of putting shape on words. Is this a gift – a calling? The poet, Patrick Kavanagh said, poetry made me a sort of outcast and I became abnormally normal.
Can one become a poet, and if we think it is possible, how does one go about it? Reading and listening to poetry is a good and essential starting point. We learn from poets from the past and from the practitioners of our own generation. It has been, ever, so.
I consider myself lucky to have had an uncle who would walk fields and hills telling me tales and stories of Raftery, an old blind bard. I was fascinated and dreamt of walking roads with a handful of poems as he had done. It is my destiny.
© Terry McDonagh
Terry McDonagh, Irish poet and dramatist has worked in Europe, Asia and Australia. He’s taught creative writing at Hamburg University and was Drama Director at Hamburg International School. Published eleven poetry collections, letters, drama, prose and poetry for young people. In March 2022, he was poet in residence and Grand Marshal as part of the Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in Brussels. His work has been translated into German and Indonesian. His poem, ‘UCG by Degrees’ is included in the Galway Poetry Trail on Galway University campus. In 2020, Two Notes for Home – a two-part radio documentary, compiled and presented by Werner Lewon, on The Life and Work of Terry McDonagh, The Modern Bard of Cill Aodáin. His latest poetry collection, ‘Two Notes for Home’ – published by Arlen House – September 2022. He returned to live in County Mayo in 2019.
email: terrymcdonagh,writer1@gmail.com
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