In 2016, poet David Butler was commissioned to compose original literature inspired by the Blackrock area under the dlr Arts Office public art programme, with support from dlr Library Service. David was based in the area from October 2016 - May 2017 and engaged with various local groups through Blackrock Library.
The commission resulted in a sequence of eleven poems loosely following the route of the old Atmospheric Railway from Booterstown Saltmarsh out to what was then Kingstown Harbour, exploring the cultural, historic, ecological and even geological richness of this particular stretch of coastline. Motifs, words, images and sound-fragments recur throughout the sequence, much as they might in a musical score.
One collaboration that arose naturally out of this musicality and interest in soundscape was what became an in-situ recording of the poem-sequence conducted in collaboration with Dún Laoghaire based sound artist Anthony Kelly. This extended beyond the illustrative – the hush of waves, the twitter of oyster-catchers, the tinkering of masts, the hum of the DART. So many of the poems are informed by the location’s particular acoustic quality that both David and Anthony were keen to record the actual soundscape, not merely as background, but as an integral part of the sequence.
The result, which runs to about 17 minutes, may be heard here: Blackrock Sequence, Poems read by David Butler and Field Recordings by Anthony Kelly
David writes: ‘In responding to the commission, I was particularly interested in the cultural, historic and even geological richness of this particular stretch of coastline... I wanted to explore how a city can be a repository of all sorts of memory. . Motifs, words, images and sound-fragments recur throughout the sequence, much as they might in a musical score.’
The sequence of poems was illustrated by David’s brother Jim Butler, a Cambridge based print-maker and lecturer in art and graphic design, and are on display in Blackrock Library. David also collaborated with the group NoWiFi (North Wicklow Films) who made a series of short film responses to the poems.
A former lecturer in English and Spanish literature, David Butler works as a full-time writer. His debut poetry collection, Via Crucis, was published by Doghouse in 2011, while his most recent novel, City of Dis (New Island) was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, 2015. David's new poetry collection is All the Barbaric Glass (Doire Press 2017).
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