CLAIRE KIRK

Why

CLAIRE KIRK AND I

Claire and I were introduced by the founder of VOICEFREE, Michael Connaughton on her birthday, June 9th 1987. When she told me her name I replied that the only person I ever knew with that name was my former landlord in Monkstown where I lived from 1973 to 1976. Claire then said that he was her former husband from whom she had separated a short time previously. I had never met Claire when I was his tenant for those three years. Within three weeks of our first meeting Claire and I were inseparable. I had spent the previous ten years recovering from a wild, destructive relationship with a Californian woman.

Claire was a well known artist who had been painting for over thirty years. She had lived in the mountain region of Spain with her family during long periods in the Seventies and Eighties and had had several exhibitions there.

Claire was a fabulously attractive woman with the Bohemian spirit and flair. She had owned a Boutique in Blackrock and her sense of style and colour was second to none. She owned a car called “RUSTY” and we travelled to my home in Clare many times, as well as to Kilkenny and Galway. Coming from a family of printers Claire had been writing poetry for many years. This was another bond between us. We travelled to Spain in 1991 but the Gulf War began while we were there. Claire had three children from her marriage, the eldest, a boy and two girls.
Just after we moved to an apartment in Greystones, Claire was struck down with Parkinsons. A difficult few years followed for both of us. After four years, new treatment meant she could live a normal life but had to take medication.

As a teenager Claire had sung several times on Radio Eireann. She took part in all of the school musicals. After leaving school and before her marriage she had worked as a secretary in The American Embassy. Claire had a very stable childhood and talking a lot about her parents and siblings. Claire has had many exhibitions over the years and has continued to paint passionately. Her devotion to the work of Jack. B Yeats is constant as ever. He is by far her favourite Irish artist. She is in love with all art and particularly the work of Klee and Kadinsky.

We have much the same poets in common. She loves W.B Yeats and Patrick Kavanagh whom she heard lecture in Dublin. We share the same passion for the American master, Wallace Stevens an his surrealist vision of reality. We also love Dylan Thomas an W.H Auden. She has inspired many of my poems. Some have been specifically about her and all my writing since I met her has been immersed in her presence. Now we are together over twenty one years and she has eight grand-children, five grand-daughters and three grand-sons. She is being well-cared for and I see her regularly. My new Collection of poetry, “LOST IN NOVEMBER RAINS” contains a sequence of twenty sonnets specifically written with her in mind. She is without doubt the love of my life and I can’t imagine life without her.

All material is subject to copyright ©.