{"id":5088,"date":"2021-10-14T14:00:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=5088"},"modified":"2021-10-14T14:01:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:01:52","slug":"a-great-place-to-go-mad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/a-great-place-to-go-mad\/","title":{"rendered":"A Great Place to Go Mad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Theodore<\/a>
Theodore Roethke went mad on Inisbofin, afterwards being treated at Ballinasloe Psychiatric Hospital. This is a photo of the church there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Background:<\/strong> I grew up with stories of my father on his honeymoon on the west coast describing it as “a great place to go mad”. The route my parents chose is now the Wild Atlantic Way, so they were trendsetters in a way long long before their time in 1964!!! The poet Thoedore Roethke had a nervous breakdown here<\/a>, on Inisbofin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Its beauty lost on a farmers eye
\nWho honeymooned what is now the Wild Atlantic Way
\nBefore tourism was much of a thing
\nSpoke of the western coast that distant day
\nTo his young bride who saw both its beauty and his point
\nIt was a phrase with which Ive grown
\nOf a place Ive grown to love
\nIts wild remoteness, overgrown.<\/p>\n

I was not the first poet there
\n– For among its stones they are born, grow, and die –
\nI was not the first either to visit
\nThere were other long before I
\nToday forgotten, more only known
\nWho know of a circle, follow works of a few…
\nAll have their favourites, as have I
\nOf their lives and works above others knew.<\/p>\n

To the west from the West he came
\nTo the Old Land of centuries before
\nFrom which his forefathers once had left
\nAlong with millions hopeful more.
\nThe fighting muses got the better of his brain
\nHe lost whatever senses he had
\nCarted off in a boat to Ballinasloe
\nHaving found a great place to go mad!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background: I grew up with stories of my father on his honeymoon on the west coast describing it as “a great place to go mad”. The route my parents chose is now the Wild Atlantic Way, so they were trendsetters in a way long long before their time in 1964!!! …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[1055,4483,4484,1223,1901,4482,4485],"class_list":["post-5088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writers","tag-ballinasloe","tag-ballinasloe-psychiatric-hospital","tag-inisbofin","tag-mental-health","tag-poet","tag-theodore-roethke","tag-wild-atlantic-way","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-1k4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3432,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/once-upon-a-time-in-ballinasloe\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":0},"title":"Once Upon A Time in Ballinasloe","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"24th December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Once upon a time in Ballinasloe Bollick naked our hero was seen Lying in a mess of his own making Bawling relentless at the poor nurses he had been Not able to string two words together In Portniuncula Hospital that December morn But in all fairness there are mitigations: Sure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Where our hero was Born...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Portiuncula-Hospital-in-Ballinasloe.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Portiuncula-Hospital-in-Ballinasloe.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Portiuncula-Hospital-in-Ballinasloe.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":848,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/all-fair-at-the-ballinasloe-fair\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":1},"title":"All Fair at the Ballinasloe Fair","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"12th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There was auld wans and young wans and all sorts of wild ones Piebalds and ponys, and big horses, small ones hands high, Sulkys and traps, carriages and chaps That were merry, more rowdy, I passed them all by. There were mounted Guarda\u00ed, and fine looking young ladies Cat calling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Affairs in Ireland"","block_context":{"text":"Current Affairs in Ireland","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/current-affairs-in-ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All was fair at the Ballinasloe Fair, unlike the shambles at Banagher. The Guardai done an excellent job where they as a resource were used correctly, as a service to the who community for the common good of all, as opposed to Banagher, where they were misused to enfore the bigotires of a small but both vocal and powerful minority. All the colour was at Ballinasloe, from happy families to fueding traders trading insults, and of course, the beauty of the horses themselves.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ballinasloe-Fair.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ballinasloe-Fair.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ballinasloe-Fair.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ballinasloe-Fair.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ballinasloe-Fair.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2166,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/fair-girls-at-the-horse-fair\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":2},"title":"Fair Girls at the Horse Fair","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"31st July 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"They walk the streets, young, wild at heart Among horses the men admire Free of sprit and fast with word To the shouts of commoner and squire. Such girls! Such women! Inspire words Few written about them there The beautiful women among the beautiful horses The fair girls at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irish Heritage"","block_context":{"text":"Irish Heritage","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/irish-heritage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Some firls from Ballinasloe Horse Fair in 2014... the Fair Girls at the Fair... See https:\/\/youtu.be\/J7f-b29i7Lw for full video","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fair-Girls-at-the-Fair.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fair-Girls-at-the-Fair.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fair-Girls-at-the-Fair.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Fair-Girls-at-the-Fair.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3015,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/death-of-and-at-garristown-and-its-horse-fair\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":3},"title":"Death of and at Garristown and its Horse Fair","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st July 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The sad and tragic story of the demise and the cause of the demise of Garristown Horse Fair, and as an apperant consequence, the village itself, from the Irish Folklore Commission, retold in verse below. In Longford of old the story is told Close by Gaige Crossroads there Now fallen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Longford"","block_context":{"text":"Longford","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/longford\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gaigue near Ballinamuck in Longford - the approximate location of Garristown","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gaigue-near-Ballinamuck-in-Longford-the-approximate-location-of-Garristown.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gaigue-near-Ballinamuck-in-Longford-the-approximate-location-of-Garristown.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gaigue-near-Ballinamuck-in-Longford-the-approximate-location-of-Garristown.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gaigue-near-Ballinamuck-in-Longford-the-approximate-location-of-Garristown.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Gaigue-near-Ballinamuck-in-Longford-the-approximate-location-of-Garristown.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":853,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/2015-siobhan-english-horse-fair-calender-tara-calling-book-and-blackwater-poetry-tribute-anthology-some-projects-hot-off-of-the-presses\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":4},"title":"2015 Siobhan English Horse Fair Calender, Tara Calling book, and Blackwater Poetry tribute anthology – some projects Hot Off of the Presses","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"12th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"From a calender of horses, to an anthology on the passing of a writer, and a book to save Tara, the writings of Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh are cropping up all over the place, be that a good thing or not... read on! Keeping Time in 2015 - Siobhan English calender\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tara Calling - Carmel Diviney","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Tara-Calling-Carmel-Diviney-224x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3479,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/i-have-seen-both-sides-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":5088,"position":5},"title":"I Have Seen Both Sides of Life","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"11th January 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Another of my reflective poems, as I look back on life, more serious than \"Once Upon a Time in Ballinasloe\": more along the lines of \"Portrait of the Poet as a Not So Young Man\"... these poems get easier to write as we get older! 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