Letting his writing do the talking

IF you think you’re a real Covey and you have not been the subject of a poem written by local poet Matthew (Mattie) Quinn then it may be time to start questioning your credentials.

A native of John’s Row, one of Westport’s oldest streets, Mattie has just released his second volume of poetry, ‘From Locals to Vocals, Volume 2 – The Journey Continues’, which is not bad for a man who only started putting his thoughts down on paper in 2017.

Mattie is moved to write by the people around him in Westport, and like the bards of old, he praises their contribution to community life.

“It is local people who inspire me to put pen to paper and celebrate their life and their contribution to the town. Westport is important to me. I am very much a home bird, and I love Westport.

“I like to write about the contribution people make to our town and the huge respect and admiration the general public have for them, be they road sweepers or estate agents. People who are sometimes overlooked when praise is being handed out,” the 52 year old told The Mayo News.

His second volume of poetry came hot on the heel of his debut, which was entitled ‘From Locals to Vocals – A Journey through Mind, Body and Soul’.

Dark times

While the people around him inspire the majority of his poetry, there is also a darker side to some of Mattie’s work. This has its source in periods of depression and a gambling addiction. The death of Mattie’s father in 2014 and his mother two years later left a void in his life, and the darkness set in.

Poetry was never something that had captured Mattie’s imagination in his younger life, but during difficult periods of depression he found it therapeutic and helped him get through black days.

“If I fell into a deep depression, which was sometimes the case, I would still write down what I was feeling and share my thoughts. They were sometimes dark, and I guess from the outside looking in, quite worrying. But it was my way of dealing with the darkness, expressing myself in the only way I knew how. Talking about my feelings was never my strong point,” he explained.

Words as release

It was around the All-Ireland final in 2017 when Mattie first started to put some of his poetry on Facebook, with one of his first poems being about praising the Mayo team. The response he received was great, so he decided to keep posting more and more content onto the social-media site.

“I found it therapeutic. I had a gambling addiction for ten years, it got really bad. A lot of people would not have known I was gambling because I was doing it at home online. Writing helped me and got me through some dark periods. I would put it down on paper and move on rather than bottling it up. That was my way of releasing it. Some people would go to the gym and use a punch bag but I would sooner put it down on words,” he explained.

Mattie has worked in Albany in Westport for over 30 years, and it was to his boss, Mary McNicholas, he finally admitted to that he had a gambling problem.

“I knew I was in a bad place and had a bit of a breakdown, which was affecting my work. I confessed to Mary that I have a gambling issue and she helped me get through it. I only went to one counselling session, as I didn’t think I needed to go to any. I feel once I confessed it to someone I was cured, and I haven’t gambled since November 2020.”

A happier place

Mattie explained that between 2018 and 2021 he was quite prolific, and it was around this time it was suggested that he publish his work. He admits he did not know how to go about it, but he was put in the direction of a man who did – Mayo News columnist Liamy McNally.

“I want to give a special thanks to Liamy, who went above and beyond the call of duty. He would come up to my house two or three times a week, and we would sit down and sort out the grammar and punctuation, which I wouldn’t be an expert on. He was very good at that and very patient.

“When the first book came out, Liamy came to the shop with it. I was stunned to see it in print, but I was also tinged with sadness as my parents were no longer here to witness it. I know my mother would have been particularly proud,” he said.

With his second book on the shelves, Mattie is now in a good place in his life and has replaced online gambling with spending this free time tending to his garden at his home on Peter Street. As a result, he says, he no longer writes as prolifically, and a third book is a long way off.

“I am at a more settled and happier place than when I was prolific, because I was going through hard times then, and the thoughts were coming quick and fast. Now I am in a happier place at home where I am doing a bit of gardening.

“I have no plans for a new book… to be perfectly honest, I have hit a wall with the poetry and the inspiration isn’t there. But maybe that is a good thing because I am in a happier place now.”