Note From author: This poem was written in 2015 in the London Irish Centre. I was kindly asked over to do a gig by Gary Dunne. I had recently gone through a breakup and I was a bit low. My ex’s uncle had passed away and I was given some of his shirts. He was originally from Limerick but had moved to the UK and I felt it was fitting to wear one of his shirts to this gig in the LIC, as it’s a journey I’d imagine he would’ve made. I had wanted to write about how much the items of clothing I got meant to me and I wanted to write about the breakup somehow but I could never find the right way to say it. After having arrived a bit too early for the gig I’d sat down to do some emails only to find out the wifi in the Irish centre wasn’t working. In that moment sitting and having time to reflect on how I felt this poem came out.
Then in 2016 Gary kind as ever asked me over again to perform as part of the Céad Festival event. This time I took the wonderful director Myles O’Reilly’s Juno Falls with me and he filmed this video in the room where I wrote the poem. My ex had asked me never to name her in a poem. Wanting to respect this but not just call her ‘her’ in the poem, I thought a quote at the beginning might give her voice. Well it’s what I’m attempting to do anyway. Katherine Minola from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew seemed apt also.
While the poem is two years old and the video was filmed over a year ago, it only seems appropriate to release it now.
– Stephen James Smith https://www.stephenjamessmith.com/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/sjswords/
Céad Festival 2016:
John Spillane, Rónán Ó Snodaigh (Kíla), Liam Ó Maonlaí (Hot House Flowers), Abby Oliveira – writer
London Irish Centre
http://www.londonirishcentre.org
Gary Dunne
http://www.garydunne.com
Myles O’Reilly
https://arbutusyarns.net
Culture Ireland
http://www.cultureireland.ie
Myles O'Reilly's Arbutus Yarns 2010 - 2020 
I don’t recommend lightly. Which is why it’s not a list, it’s currently a few people.
This is an amazing video – well done ! I’m looking for extra work so was wondering if you could add me to the list of people you fob people off to when you’re asked to do something you can’t/don’t want to do! Thanks a million,d On Tue 28 Nov 2017 at 16:58, Myles O’Reilly’s Arbutus Yarns wrote:
> Myles O’Reilly posted: ” Note From author: This poem was written in 2015 > in the London Irish Centre. I was kindly asked over to do a gig by Gary > Dunne. I had recently gone through a breakup and I was a bit low. My ex’s > uncle had passed away and I was given some of his shirts.” >