Tag: Contemporary Irish Poetry
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“Reasons” by Anora Mansour
Reasons Here silver fingered strings trembling with two Russian rings. Recalling it all. The reasons why we reared yardbirds long disappeared yet a cotton crop always reappears. If sleep is a dotted dress then we wear this zero life. And we are also a false bird’s chirp. And never more deadly when we are chanting…
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“A Life Unanswered” and other poems by Susan Kelly
The Bittersweet Her passion was historical biscuit tins or so he’d tell visitors who marvelled at the growing stacks of embossed lids that glinting with landscapes, landmarks locations she hadn’t seen, he thought it best if the world came to her. He liked her to display these gifts he brought back from places he visited…
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“When The Queen Falls In love” and other poems by Ingrid Casey
Jazz in a Northern City Amidst turmoil, paindragon carried me for nights, to see the Goth. She was in Macbeth with the artist, the room was filling with books, miniature figures, heated exchanges, we rolled downhill, to the galleries. I filled her ears with chocolate, she was beaming. Her black Halloween curls twined around…
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‘Still Life With Hedgehog’ and other poems by Gaynor Kane
Still life with hedgehog The items have been arranged; carefully positioned, to vary height with texture and tone. Lit from the left. But what the artist hadn’t bargained for was that the sleeping urchin would unfurl; spine straightening, light-tipped quills oblique. To nimbly negotiate the spray of red roses, and feast on wedge of…
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‘When’ and other poems by Alice Kinsella
Periwinkle (I) Your fingers unveiled the shell, like the unwrapping of a present. Little twirls on the bright jewel found amongst greys, greens, muddied sand. Words whistling through tooth gaps, excitement brought by being somewhere new. Finding me still at home, unchanged, ready to believe any adventure. Curled sunshine shell like the buttercup reflection…
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‘Aleph to Taf’ and other poems by Emma McKervey
Aleph to Taf The magpie uses a rudder to steer by. I watch the long feathers of its tail turn according to its needs. The women here swear they see them singly for weeks before a death, but that is only said after the fact and I know you can see as many as you…
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‘St. Brendan’s Floating Isle’ & other poems by Stephanie Conn
Biding Time She sits by the split cottage door knitting a navy sweater on five thin needles – seamless, to resist salt water, biting winds, the neck tight enough to make ears bleed, no swell wild enough to strip it from skin. She knows the pattern by heart, each bobble stitch is a prayer,…
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‘All The Worlds Between’; a collaborative poetry project between India and Ireland
All the Worlds Between is a collaborative poetry project bringing together poets from India, Ireland and in between. Their writing partnerships resulted in four strands—poems as conversations, poems at angles to one another, poems which speak out of turn to other poems in the group and, not surprisingly, stories of friendship. The poets looked at…
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‘Stormriver’ and other poems by Myra Vennard
NIGHT TREE Along the river bank street lights are lighting the darkening waters glow the sun is low the mountain crouches low in shadow light drops from light dark creeps back to night … my mind struggles with a paradox – gleams from a self-source and light falling from a…
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Sample of Five Poems from ‘Transmissions’ by Elaine Cosgrove
ENDLESS We become adult on roads, on lines, on grids, on greens, on grey spaces — you cannot zoom in. We become older with the city as seer, decibels the scale from stepping dawn to engine rattling dusk, to clinking night and walk-back light. Chiaroscuro lives in metered hope. We become in spite of…
Chris Murray 