The newest addition to the Irish poetry scene, The Poetry Bus – run by the wonderful talents of Peadar over at totalfeckineejit.blogspot.com – is scheduled for another release this summer. Of course ‘the recession’, or whatever stupid name you want to give it, means that projects big and small, good and bad, don’t get any support from the powers that be.

A new website – fundit.ie – has changed that. The website allows you to help fund projects by getting as many people together to put their few pence in the kitty so as worthwhile projects can budget for launching their respective programmes. This is an amazing initiative and a member of the increasingly long list of entrepreneurs who seem to have realised that they will not allow or rely on the government of Ireland to hold onto Ireland’s futures as tentatively as they did in the past.

You could really see this movement coming to the forefront during the second Lisbon Treaty referendum when a large number of civic groups got together in support of the country’s future. I can’t remember what they’re name was right not, but there were a good few of them …

Recently, you can see further efforts like this shaking up the national environment with We The Citizens and also Social Entreprenuers Ireland (can you spot my cousin in the crowd?)

Fundit.ie is another example of where we, as the odd codgers in the street you may or may not be, can make the difference where the people we have elected couldn’t be bothered, or aren’t competent enough, to do their job properly.

So, what you need to do now is you need to follow this link directly to The Poetry Bus’s page on fundit.ie and donate a meagre eight euros at least (and Peadar will even throw in a lovely copy of The Poetry Bus with a CD of the poets reading their poems included – needless to say yours truly is the highlight of the whole book and CD but considering the quality of the other poets that’s a serious achievement)

So do it quickly, otherwise the bus gets no money and we’ll be left to read drivel like … like … like the magazines that don’t publish my poetry!