Cork 2005/Mary Leland: One by one, the poets lined up in Cork to say "Goodbye, Greg" as they read over the grave of Gregory O'Donoghue, first contributor to the "Translations" series of poetry publications for Cork 2005.
Last was his father Robert, playwright, poet and retired journalist, who read the memorial lines written by Pat Cotter of the Munster Literature Centre, where Greg had been leader of the writers' workshop programme until his sudden death on August 27th, aged 54.
Cotter's verses spoke of the resonance of grief and echoed the titles of O'Donoghue's publications - Kicking, his first collection issued by Gallery Press when he was 25, Making Tracks (Dedalus) and The Permanent Way (Three Spires Press) - as a series of references to the poet's life and work.
Born in Cork, he was educated at UCC where he joined a marvellous flourish of young poets, including Nuala Ní Dhomhnall, Liam Ó Muirthile, Maurice Riordan, Theo Dorgan, Thomas McCarthy and the late Michael Davitt and Sean Dunne. He spent some years in Canada where he married, obtained a doctorate and entered academic life as a lecturer and writer.
The celebrant at his Requiem Mass last Tuesday noted that O'Donoghue experienced life "in an experimental spirit", and when he left Canada he worked on the freight-train services in England before returning to Cork in the early 1990s. Here he engaged actively in the literary life of the city, especially with the Munster Literature Centre; and he was poetry editor of the centre's journal, Southword.
When the centre developed its "Translations" series, O'Donoghue worked with the Bulgarian poet Kristin Dimitrova. His brother Tom spoke in church of a man dedicated to his poetry and distinguished by the clarity and precision of his work. "His poems document beautifully much if not all of what was important in his life: they are a kind of life story, beautifully told, and a precious legacy."
Verses from that legacy were read out over the flowers around his grave. Mourners included John Montague, William Wall and Aidan Murphy, and poems were read by Pat Cotter, Gerry Murphy, Maurice O'Riordan, Liz O'Donoghue - who remembered "all the fun we had" - and Theo Dorgan. Dorgan spoke of their shared obsession with Osip Mandelstam and as his tribute chose the Russian poet's verses from "What shall I do with this body that has been given me?". As he ended, he added that O'Donoghue's deeds needed no forgiveness, "because his deeds were poems".
