EXCHANGE BUILDINGS My working days in Dublin, began at Exchange Buildings, in the old part of the city. Leslie, sitting at the grey entrance, kept an eye on our movements, as we skimmed past him when we left a minute early for lunch, or avoided his knowing eye whenever we came back late. I sat all day in a tiny space, in the grim office, responding to three hundred extensions on the switchboard and the thirty outgoing lines. The only disturbance came from the young insurance agents, parking in the lane outside, who tried to sell us insurance policies, that gave young women a lump sum when they married. -- Mary Guckian, born 1942 Kiltoghert, Leitrim, one of a family of seven and reared on a totally self-sufficient organic farm. She worked for Leitrim and Sligo County Councils before moving to Dublin Corporation. Later she travelled and worked in Sydney, Tasmania, the Channel Islands and Oxford. More recently, she has worked in the library of the Institute of Public Administration. Mary enjoys photography and produced a series of postcards during the 1980s that sold around Ireland and her work has been exhibited. Her first book of poetry, "Perfume of the Soil," (1999), enjoyed great success and has been reprinted. The book is an invitation to delve into life in rural Ireland throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Mary's little softbound books of poetry include her own lovely photographs of Ireland and stories of growing up. The poem above is from another volume, "The Road to Gowel," (Swan Press/2000), which also contains verse that speak of modern Ireland and life in the ! city. Her observations, emotions and sheer aiblity to go straight to the heart of a subject make her work popular and celebratory, and she has been published in many literary magazines. Mary has extended family in Leitrim and Boston, and has also taken part in a cultural exchange program in Boston in the recent past.