Derry Remembers 50 Years On
By James Kelman
This performance of Thomas Kinsella’s poem, ‘Butcher’s Dozen’ was produced for the 50th
anniversary of Bloody Sunday, similar to what was done with the poem 25 years ago. Back
then it was performed in public as a live performance in Derry City’s Bogside, where these
13 men and boys were shot and killed by the British Army’s 1st Battalion the Parachute
Regiment during a peaceful Civil Rights march and demonstration.
Thomas Kinsella, a Dublin poet, passed away on December 22 nd 2021. He wrote the poem
following publication of the British Government’s official report in April 1972, compiled by
Lord Widgery, the lord chief justice of England. Effectively, the “Widgery Report”
exonerated the British Army for the killings and blamed the organisers of the Civil Rights
march.
This most powerful performance of the poem can be heard at https://youtu.be/U_P6GW7jpqo
The ten voices/contributors include three of those who attended the original march: Eamonn
McCann, Liam Wray whose brother Jim was shot dead on Bloody Sunday and Donnacha
McFeeley, whose friend Gerald was also shot and killed that day.
People interested to learn more on these events and the situation as it is today in regard to the
justice question should go to http://bloodysundaymarch.org/for_justice/ or to
www.bloodysundaymarchcommittee.org
