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Book of the Month: Paula Meehan’s “Painting Rain”
For November, the book of the month is Painting Rain, the 2009 collection of poetry from Paula Meehan. Painting Rain is full of sadness, and death, and memory; images of the present are wrapped up with the past. This is a book about how things change, will always change, will never remain the same. In…
Continue Reading“Bigger isn’t always better: Confessions from Wake Forest University Press interns on working at a small university press”
Wake Forest University Press is the premier publisher of Irish poetry in North America. Despite the lofty designation, it is among the smallest university presses in America. WFUP publishes an average of 4-6 titles each year, all from native Irish poets. It employs two full-time staff members, in addition to a half dozen or so…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Sleep” by Katie Donovan
This week’s Poem of the Week comes from one of our favorite anthologies of poetry, The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry. As we near the end of the semester, with all its hustle and bustle, Katie Donovan’s poem “Sleep” feels particularly striking. The poem has a peaceful, relaxing tone, and artfully reminds us to…
Continue ReadingVona Groarke in The New Yorker
Landscape – Kongevejen near Gentofte by Vilhelm Hammershøi The November 11 issue of The New Yorker features Vona Groarke’s poem “The Landscapes of Vilhelm Hammershøi.” Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) was a Danish painter best known for his low-key, soft portraits and interiors. Enigmatic and secretive, his paintings were described as “highly traditional, but also distinctively modern”…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Samhain” by John Montague
Samhain Sing a song for the mistress of the bones the player on the black keys the darker harmonies light jig of shoe buckles on a coffin lid ∞ Harsh glint of the wrecker’s lantern on a jagged cliff across the ceaseless glitter of the spume: a seagull’s creak. The damp-haired…
Continue ReadingInnocence Lost: “Boy-Soldier” by Michael Longley
“Child Soldier in the Ivory Coast, Africa” by Gilbert Ground Michael Longley’s recent poem “Boy-Soldier” was inspired by Irish author Tom McAlindon’s account of the death of WWI teenage soldier, Bobbie Kernaghan of Belfast. The images of young soldiers killed in war, of their tender necks pierced and their armor clattering to the ground link this…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Demotic Nocturne” by Ciaran Carson
The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah, a painting by John Martin (1789-1854) In the spirit of Halloween we offer Ciaran Carson’s “Demotic Nocturne”, a tantalizing and chilling nighttime adventure that takes the reader on a technicolor journey that “disperses all the boundaries of hearth and home.” “Demotic Nocturne” appears in Carson’s collection In the Light Of, translated from Rimbaud’s Illuminations. Demotic Nocturne (Nocturne vulgaire) A breath…
Continue ReadingBook of the Month: Ciaran Carson’s BELFAST CONFETTI … “raining exclamation marks”
Ciaran Carson’s “Belfast Confetti” is one of my favorite poems. A copy is mounted above the desk where we work at the Press and I glance up at it while typing, editing, and occasionally gazing off into space. Every time I read it, I notice something new. I was surprised when I read through…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “The Lap of Plenty” by Harry Clifton
This week’s Poem of the Week comes from Harry Clifton’s upcoming collection, The Holding Centre. Available in December, The Holding Centre features a fantastic selection of Clifton’s previously published work, but also includes a section with new, unpublished poems. As a sneak peek, this week we give you “The Lap of Plenty.” THE LAP OF PLENTY Leave…
Continue Reading‘Tis the season for poetry readings
Everyone knows that poetry is best when listened to, so kick back, relax and belatedly celebrate National Poetry Day with some readings from our poets. Ciaran Carson reading “Snow” from Belfast Confetti Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin reads from The Sun-Fish Paula Meehan reads her poem “Death of a Field” from Painting Rain Michael Longley reads “Harmonica” from his Collected Poems Vona…
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