On the Town: The lofty, ornate ceilings of the Board Room in the Royal College of Surgeons eminently suited the lofty words and sentiments in the poetry of Enda Wyley and Gerard Smyth, who were each launching their new collections, Poems for Breakfast and A New Tenancy. Not too lofty, though, for a healthy buzz among the guests, enlivened by the sunshine, warmth and inevitable glass or three.
Was Peter Sirr, Wyley's husband and fellow poet, going to turn up in her reading?
"I hope not," Sirr said. But he did feature nonetheless, which one imagines could only fuel the "viciousness and tension" inherent in two poets living together. To make sure we understood Sirr's poetic irony, Wyley debunked the myth of feuding writers, saying there was "no stealing going on. We work separately. I'm at the top of the house, Peter's at the bottom, and the dog is in the middle". Oh yes, "and we don't exchange poems at breakfast", she added, dashing the myth of her book's title.
Pat Boran, programme director of the Dublin Writers' Festival, took time out from the hectic last-minute festival preparations to enjoy a (relatively) calm evening of verse. He was present not only to support Wyley and Smyth, but also, he explained, "because I like poetry" - quite a feat for someone, as a poet and literary programmer, surrounded by the stuff day in, day out. Opera singer Judith Mok, whose production about Molly Bloom, featuring songs from Ulysses, will appear during the festival, also attended with her husband, writer Michael O'Loughlin.
Providing a "sliver of music" between readings, singer and songwriter Nick Kelly performed one of his own songs, The Night Cesare Lombroso Met the Elephant Man.
"Lombroso was a phrenologist" - a 19th-century scientist who drew conclusions about character from the lumps on people's heads - "and I always thought it would be an interesting encounter," Kelly explained. He and his wife, Niamh Hyland, have a 10-month-old daughter, which Kelly finds has "a focusing effect" on his work.
Focus is not a problem for Smyth, however, who, despite his hectic schedule as a managing editor of The Irish Times, doesn't need to find time to write.
"The time finds me," he said. "Poetry doesn't work like that. If I stopped to think about it, I'd probably stop doing it."