Described by one reviewer as "The Fire Of the Gaels" Omagh bard Aine MacAodha has a facination and love of Ireland's ancient history and celtic traditions that inspire her writing. The terminology 'Bard' seems particulary appropriate to Aine as bards formed a professional hereditary chaste of highly trained learned poets of medieval and early modern Ireland. They were steeped in the history and tradition of clan and country and they became the main carriers of poetic tradition in Gaelic portions of Ireland.
Aine has compiled a collection of her poems in a booklet titled, "Where the Three Rivers Meet." Her work is intuitively connected to the rich Irish poetic tradition. Her poems are laden with references and imagery that evoke the ethos of Ireland's history and celtic tradition, many inspired by her native Tyrone. The title of her poems include, 'The Sperrin Mountains, 'Oak Lake, County Tyrone', and Haiku that paint a beautiful picture:
' Omagh from above
a butterfly in full bloom
Spredding her wings.'
Aine was raaised in Omagh and has three grown children, Michaela, Penny and James and held a Gra for poetry for as long as she can recall.
" I started writing writing poetry when I was very young. I used to read ballad books belonging to my mother Mary Keys, it really started from that.
"it came about when I went to The Hogshead Writers group run by the late Damien Quinn who was a poet from Omagh. I was self taught and went to writers groups. I also joined the Derry Playhouse Writers and from that created the Omagh Busheaneys writers group and produced a booklet, 'Voices from the Hedgegrove' I contributed to that and have been published in magazines both here and the UK and the US. I find it very fufilling and have enjoyed writing poetry. I have been studying Celtic Mythology which facinating and like to visit the megalithic sites locally. I really love the Sperrins. If I want to write I often go to the Pigeon Top which is lovely on a good day, it's a quiet place to go and I am very inspired by it. Whatever comes to me at the time; I will express it through my writing. I try to get into the beauty of the North. Often I would study a topic and then write about it. When studying mythology I wrote 'Mise Eire'(I am Ireland), going through the mythology of Chu` Chullian, Tain Bo and other ancient stories.
The phrase 'labour of love' is a well worn cliche, but Aine's passion for for expressing her feel for Ireland, the local terrain and mythology flows through her poetry. It is little wonder she continues to find fufillment through learning and penning verse.
'Taken from an interview with the Herald reporter Ronin McSherry
on Thursday September 4th 2008'
