An Interview with Sinead Tyrone on Fragility

​Buffalo area native Sinead Tyrone started down the path of writing in 2009 because, as she puts it, "I had wanted to write for many years; in 2009 I finally became brave and started to take my passion for the craft more serious. As for writing poems, I just started expressing what was in my heart. I had never thought of myself as a poet until that year." And a fine poet she has become. She has honed her craft through reading at many of the venues around Erie County. One of the results has been her first volume of poetry, Fragility (2014, Nofrills Buffalo).

Life is full of frustrations, longings, dreams, faith and struggles

The standard definition of the word fragility is of something delicate, embodying a vulnerability, easily broken. In this collection Tyrone touches on themes such as these, as well as those of strength and perseverance.

When asked what inspires her work she says: "My poetry covers a wide range of topics, whatever moves my heart at any given moment. I incorporate a lot of visual imagery in my writing. Nature and the landscapes around me are frequent topics. Life is full of frustrations, longings, dreams, faith and struggles; so any of these can be found in my poems. Ireland is a frequent theme."

Take the title poem, which starts in a dreamscape of childhood with wishes carried on the wind, later trying to recall that childhood, and finally coming to terms with the realities of adulthood in the last stanza.

I am grown up now,
dreams are rare commodities.
Clay feet do not break free so easily,
tie me to earth,
suffer me to watch as milkweed seedpods float by.
I gaze at them until they are no longer visible 
against the summer sky,
then turn my hands back to more practical things.

​She had already started writing her first novel when, in 2012, she took a longed for trip to Ireland. Quite a few of the poems in this collection are inspired by her visit there. One such poem comes from a visit to Dunluce Castle in County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
Here is a bit from her poem of the same name.

I run my hand over weather-worn stones,
peer through empty windows,
follow light and shadow 
and architectural lines
all in hopes of learning 
the secrets your ancient walls carr

Everybody has known what it is like to be tormented by decisions of the heart. After going to Strandhill, a coastal village in County Sligo, she wrote the poem Strandhill Sea. In it Tyrone speaks of the love of her ancestral homeland as well as that for the land of her birth, and not knowing where her loyalties should lay.

Heart shifts back,
shifts forth,
shifts back again,
torn between two worlds 
 
... waves fighting waves,
storms raging inside,
my small boat caught in the middle 

Anybody who has had the chance to finally fulfill a dream and make it to the land of their forebears knows what it like to feel, even for the briefest of time, that you are home, which is the reason that both of her novels are set there.
​
"The novels are connected by their characters," Tyrone explains "Both  are set in current day Ireland and Northern Ireland.  The main characters are musicians in a band called Macready's Bridge. In the first novel, Walking through the Mist, the main character experiences a crisis that turns his life upside down, and he must rebuild his life. In the sequel, Crossing the Lough Between, two of the main characters face a conflict that threatens their friendship. Both novels draw in a number of characters whose lives intertwine, much like how Celtic knots intertwine".
 
Loss is a major subject for any writer, and Tyrone is masterful at transcribing these feelings into verse. As in Language Lesson where she knows she is coming to love Ireland and lamenting that she cannot stay.

Are there words in Irish that describe 
the feel of my heart as I touch Irish soil, 
and the feel as I leave it behind

Tyrone also speaks of a different kind of loss, that of a friend, in her poem The Last Rose. 
​

The last rose stands sentinel 
beside your driveway, eagerly awaits
your return. It does not know
you are gone

When not writing Sinead Tyrone works full time as a legal secretary, is an avid photographer and an aficionado of all things Irish. Look for her at a local reading and pick up one (or more) of her books.
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They can be found at Dog Ears Bookstore (688 Abbott Road) and Talking Leaves bookstore.  They can also be ordered through Amazon, or email the author  (sineadtyrone@gmail.com) and arrangements can be made to deliver the books