In one of those curious paradoxes of time, we are simultaneously slowly reaching the end of the main tourist season whilst also whizzing through the weeks since we took over the running of Killeena House Estate. Having got into the swing of cleaning apartments, dis-gunging drains, and dealing with curious requests we must now begin to turn our attentions to our more cerebral activities: the new sessions of West Cork College classes. Physically, there is no doubt that I am stronger and fitter than I have been for years. When a guest recently lost the snooker balls in the table he was much surprised when I (almost) nonchalantly lifted it in an attempt to dislodge them. I am active from 9 until 7; chopping, hauling, lifting, carrying, strimming, trimming and killing (ants that is). During this work my mind is in a state of now-ness, a Zen-like plateau of physical doing. Occasionally, I think “Ice-cream”. This is a mechanistic approach combined with a constant urge for oral satisfaction. Now I will begin to draw in my wafting tendrils of thought, focusing them upon the intricacies of poetic interpretation. Imagine my head as an ants’ nest: when at physical work my thoughts ramble and bustle at random, lacking direction, but just as the ants, when appropriate pressure is put upon them combine to become a determined unit assisting some of their number to sprout wings and take flight so do my thoughts begin to coalesce into glittering focus. Ha! It is more like have another coffee and focus your tiny wee mind.
Not living in a Cartesian Dualism, my mind is dependant upon my body…which is why there is a rambling flavour to this post as I suspect I have a cold….Cognito ergo Sternutatio*
Which philosophical twitterings bring me to our new course options. Bernie is back again with stand-alone Yeats and Heaney classes and her enthusiastic students have also asked for a course on the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh. Her other new course is The Philosophy of Art which will combine Art History with an examination of related philosophies. Together we will jointly teach Jane Austen’s Novels, and also the wide-ranging Belle Époque of Paris: Writers and Artists, both of which are being concurrently offered through UCC Adult Education. Belle Époque looks at all forms of culture in Paris from 1871 to 1914 when attitudes, costumes, and philosophies changed dramatically. West Cork is, of course, the centre of Irish good food and so I will offer classes that look at food through poetry, there may even be some nibbles! Rhyming food perhaps:
Pickle your knees in honey
Pickle your knees in peas
But if you want the sweetest knees in the business
Ha ha Ha ha Ha Ha
Pickle your knees in cheese
Pickle your knees, pickle your knees
Pickle your knees in cheese
Pickle your knees, pickle your knees
Pickle your knees in cheese
A woman of sixty-two
Went and pickled her knees in glue
Then before my contemptuous eyes
Dumb dumb, she attempted to rise
Pickle your knees, pickle your knees
Pickle your knees in cheese
Pickle your knees, pickle your knees
Pickle your knees in cheese
Pickle your knees in honey
Pickle your knees in peas
But if you want the sweetest knees in the business
Ha ha Ha ha Ha Ha
Pickle your knees in cheese
Extract from an Ivor Cutler song. Listen to his inimitable version here. (He is epic, but we will probably be doing slightly more “highbrow” poems!).
Unfortunately, we don’t have the popular Emma Jervis with us this session for photography but hopefully she’ll be back another time. We will be offering some of the courses in Killeena House for added atmosphere, and some will remain in the West Cork Hotel. If you want to know more keep an eye on www.westcorkcollege.ie or phone us on 02820620.
* “I think therefore I sneeze” or literally “Hence the sneezing”.