Blog

Poem of the Week: “Durée d’Octobre / In October” by Claire Malroux

October its brilliance
In its arms
        the condemned leaves
        the obsession
with dying beautifully

Poem of the Week: “Amber” by Eavan Boland

It never mattered that there was once a vast grieving:

trees on their hillsides, in their groves, weeping—
a plastic gold dropping

through seasons and centuries to the ground—

Poem of the Week: “The Design” by Thomas Kinsella

Goodness is required.
It is part of the design.
Badness is understood.
It is a lapse, and part of the design.

Poem of the Week: “Snowdrops” by Paula Meehan

So long trying to paint them, failing
to paint their shadows on the concrete path.

They are less a white than a bleaching out of green.

The Poet and “Protection of Innocence”: An Interview with Harry Clifton

To celebrate the release of Herod’s Dispensations, WFU Press interviewed poet Harry Clifton about the creation of his newest collection. Herod’s Dispensations unites a variety of themes and places, with Clifton drawing inspiration from experiences both in Ireland and China. Here, he discusses the evolution of the collection from its original focus on “art, children and death,” and touches on the elements that bring these poems together.

Poem of the Week: “Horace” by Harry Clifton

Sick of that bloody poet, everywhere
Smart casual, urbane and circumspect,
Choosing his words with a little too much care
To be real anymore…

Poem of the Week: “Six Months” by Vona Groarke

APRIL

My daughter buys
her first perfume.
It’s called ‘One Summer’.

Poem of the Week: “Sleepwalking” by David Wheatley

I want to feel it again: what I felt
when I woke once standing in the kitchen
after walking downstairs in my sleep.
The school bags had all been lined up
and the lunches packed in clingfilm…

Poem of the Week: “Winter Beachhead” by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

This is the starkest hour of the shore
when it’s purged and cleansed as a Sabbath door.
There’s a brim of lather when the tide’s in
as the waves go on with their day’s washing.

Poem of the Week: “The Ice Wager” by Harry Clifton

Snowscape. Shod in tailor’s irons,
Red-hot, with my poundage of weights,
I test the ice of our latest year.