Poets, Principles and Personalities – The Biggins of the Poetry World Spouts Forth
The principled “writer” Kevin Higgins, well, he is at it again. Readers of these pages will remember the “principled” campaign he ran to cause a pro life left winger (me!) to not run for the AAA in Offaly.
I can hear you yawning. So am I!
His latest posting triumphalist akin to the Orange Order gloating about protesting at a blocked parade -and about as anti Catholic in nature and about as pleasant in tone – about his campaign and the AAA running scared in the face of his bullying tactic (of which he accuses far left parties including the Socialist Workers Party of being guilty of).
Apperantly I am  the worst poet in Ireland, in a highly original smear (not!!!), I’m the McGonagall of Offaly. Well, as I wrote in a verse on the Bard of Dundee, he is remembered when a lot of us are forgotten, including thankfully, the Egregius Idiot of Galway.
That is what he is. Every town has one!
Id have ignored his attention seeking blog post, only to set a few records straight.
While I may not agree with their positions on the choice / life issue, the campaigners who assisted Higgins in the pressure to which the AAA capitulated did so out of what they genuinly believe, be they right, or as I contend, be they wrong.
Higgins however is different.
In the wake of the tragic Savita case, he and I debated on various venues throughout Facebook and similar sites on the issue. And then, while not compomising on his position, he was rspectful enough to respect others opinions, while arguing his, and well enough at that. I have no reason to make him look bad to make myself look good, he’s not a bad chap as such, just a slave to his own ego, as you will see below.
Initially there was no problem, and no campaign, as the news broke of the Offaly AAA cadidature. Abortion was not an issue for the AAA as a movement – it being an alliance – being a broad church, and containing both positions within its ranks.
Another Galway writer Fred Johnstone of the Western Writers Centre has been having trouble with our friend Biggins, sorry, Higgins, due to a dispute from when they worked together down in FÃS.
Higgins alleges bullying on Johnstones behalf, and in a horrific lapse of good judgement, even Clare Daly wasted valuable Dáil time asking a question of the minister about how Johnstone – though not mentioned by name – could “abuse” state resources making specified posts about our friend Mr Higgins.
Now, Clare Daly I respect so much as to immediately forgive her lapse in judgement, she is too loyal to her friends, has too much spine for her own good, which has led her into trouble over standing by Wallace, and the Airport Car Parking fiasco among others. She is only human, and a damn decent one at that, though on the life issue, Id not 3 agree with her, me being pro life.
But that’s not the crux of this sorry mess, just a sliver of the background.
Fred Johnstone made a post about how he was not listed or mentioned on Cúirt Festival literature, and either in that post or in another one, he made the assertion that Biggins night “Over the Edge” was a rip off of sorts of his “On the Edge” nights that he used to run.
Johnstone got shafted from the Cúirt festival he started in a similar fashion to what is happening to Gene Barry in Fermoy, bar in Fermoy they are starting a rival gig, with the town now having two, Barry keeping the running of the Fermoy International Poetry Festival.
Whether Higgins was directly behind that or is by accident one of the current organizers, I’m not sure, its between the two of them, and the truth is possibly between the two positions, though Id believe more of Johnstone than Biggins.
Three Little Words
I shared the post – as you do, with the fateful three little words of “Quills at dawn”, meaning its a terror how writers fueds disrupt what should be a fantastic Irish arts scene. Johnstone – by reputation the more belligenrant of the two – passed no remarks…. Higgins sent me a message on Facebook:
You can see my reply, and THEN, and only then, did he rganise the campaign, which I satired in my verse, also called “Quills at Dawn“.
The rest is a sad and sorry history for the Irish left in general, and the AAA in particular, who cant stand up to bullys on their own side, and show themselves as a movement – not taking from the proven skills of Joe Higgins, Paul Murphy or Ruth Coppinger in particular – a poor match for real politicians from the aligned ranks of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party.
So here we see the real motivation of Higgins, not a principled pro choicer, but an egotist with a grudge against Fred Johnstone to such a degree he would stoop so low as to that. Sad case really.
All went quiet apart from a salvo of skits of each other (one probably as sad as the next!!!), but then, out of the blue, I got an EMAIL…
Unfortunately I cant find the attachment to which he refers in the original email, it seems to have been deleted.
However, I replied, as did he to my reply…
Now, the item in particular intrest here is Claire Dalys Dáil question about a personal spat between two Galway poets, the writers equivalent of a bar room brawl being brought to the national stage, and in the face of all our crises, I dont think Enda Kenny will be able to solve this one, nor would the AAA, SF and other anti austerity parties have a position on it as its not a national issue.
Our new found love for each other finished with this exchange of emails:
So there you have it, the twin motivation of trying to be a knight in shining armour for his missus – how Romantic!!!! and to get the knife into Johnstone led to the campaign against the AAA and I – not a principled status that only pro choicers should be accepted as left wing.
An Egregious Idiot indeed!
I wonder does he write these emails while paid for by the state in his capacity in Galway City Library, or the couses he runs with the old people (imagine having a love for poetry having being reared with the likes of Pauric Colum, Samuel Fergusson, William Wordsworth and Robert Burns as your diet of literature, and in your old age being served the tripe of Kevin Biggins! What old folk deserve that cruelty?) or his function in that college he teaches in or taught in?
I wonder would Clare Daly ask a Dáil question about it if I asked her to?“,”Poets, Principles and Personalities – The Biggins of the Poetry World Spouts Forth”,,”publish”,”open”,”open”,,”poets-principles-and-personalities-the-biggins-of-the-poetry-world-spouts-forth”,,,”2014-07-19 14:04:54″,”2014-07-19 14:04:54″,,”0″,”http://www.writingsinrhyme.com/?p=3412″,”0″,”post”,,”0″