ALL her sisters are here. The poet herself has taken Rescue Remedy to help calm her down. It's a nerve-wracking moment. "I've forgotten my glasses," she says, with a woebegone look. She is presented with a bouquet of lillies. It's time to begin. Louise C. Callaghan's first collection of poems has just been published. She looks down at her sisters - Amanda Higgins, Gail Polacsek, Maryrose Barrington and Julie Rowan, at her mother Geraldine C. Callaghan and at her children, Naoise Barry, Cillian Barry and Anna Pairceir who is holding her baby, Lara, and standing beside her husband Sean Paircear. They are unanimous - they all love the same poem, which comes at the end. "From the Edge of Memory" is about Louise's uncles Joseph, Eugene and Stanie. They were fighter pilots in the first World War - all three were shot down within two years of each other aged 19, 21 and 22. Her mother recalls the sad details of the tragedy after the reading.
The poem also includes the Callaghan's childhood prayer: God bless Mammy, God bless Daddy, God bless Amanda, Gaye, Merose and Julie. God bless me and make me good.
We all clap and then queue to buy our own copy of The Puzzle-Heart.