Blog
Poem of the Week: “Proposal” by Ciaran Carson
Proposal It happened over an apple. We were in a market, sunshine and August showers flickering through the glazed roof over a barrel of apples, green with a blush of red, the dew still seeming to glisten on them. You picked one up. Try it and see, Miss, said the vendor. You nodded, and bit…
Continue ReadingThe “perfect acoustic” of The Stairwell
Few moments are more exciting at the Press than when we are getting started on a new book. This fall, we’ll publish Michael Longley’s tenth collection, The Stairwell, and preparations are well underway. We’ve done a first read, gathered the cover image and copy, and sent files off to the designer. The title of the book comes from the…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Not Weeding” by Paula Meehan
Nettle, bramble, shepherd’s purse –
refugees from the building site
that was once the back field,
Poem of the Week: “…the rest will take care of itself.”
The River When I was angry, I went to the river– New water on old stones, the patience of pools. Let the will find its own pace Said a voice inside me I was learning to believe, And the rest will take care of itself. The fish were facing upstream, tiny trout Suspended like souls,…
Continue ReadingIreland ranks 1st in “Good Country Index”
Today, Ireland was ranked #1 on a new report called the Good Country Index, released by British policy advisor Simon Anholt. And what makes a Good Country, you ask? The Index measures how countries contribute to the planet and the human race. Ireland ranked within the top 10 in four of the seven categories, securing…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Mid to Upper Seventies” by Conor O’Callaghan
Here in North Carolina, we’re experiencing our first week of temperatures in the 90s, so mid to upper seventies sounds pretty good to us. Conor O’Callaghan’s poem leads us to a comfortable sunny spot. Mid to Upper Seventies He rests The Narrow Road to the Deep North on an arm of the sunroom sofa-bed. He walks to…
Continue ReadingIt’s hot outside—get yourself a T-shirt
Oh, how we miss our interns! At least we have our t-shirts for company. . . The weather’s warming up, and our interns have all left for the summer. Heading into the dog days, the Press gets more and more deserted and we find that we have to enjoy whatever company we can find. Wherever…
Continue Reading“How do you sew the night?”: A poem in memory of Maya Angelou
We at Wake Forest University Press join the rest of the university, and the rest of the world, in celebrating Maya Angelou’s life and mourning her passing. In her memory, here is a poem that WFUP poet Michael Longley wrote a few years ago after seeing Shaker-designed quilts in New England. The Design Sometimes the quilts…
Continue ReadingThe Falls Road: Carson’s childhood neighborhood
WFUP poet Ciaran Carson, native of Belfast and resident still, has written intimately about his experiences in the most urban sections of the city. This week, The Irish Times published a review of a new book of photographs taken in the late 1960s through the 1970s on the Falls Road, a portion of Belfast known for violent clashes,…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Tomorrow” by Dennis O’Driscoll
I. Tomorrow I will start to be happy. The morning will light up like a celebratory cigar. Sunbeams sprawling on the lawn will set dew sparkling like a cut-glass tumbler of champagne. Today will end the worst phase of my life. I will put my shapeless days behind me, fencing off the past, as a…
Continue Reading