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Poem of the Week: “Pipistrelle” by Harry Clifton
Pipistrelle At no point, in the whole of that northern night, Was there total eclipse of light, Only a yellow streak, low down in the sky Against which little squeaks, subliminal cries Would dash themselves, so to speak— The pipistrelles. Hours later, dawn would break To the sound of illegitimate shots In the field nearby….
Continue ReadingLil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.
Literary critic William Logan isn’t the easiest on poets. Ever. But we agreed with something he said in his recent New Criterion review of Michael Longley’s latest book, A Hundred Doors, which WFUP published last May. Logan writes: “Longley’s father won the Military Cross in World War I (a medal equivalent to the Silver Star). The…
Continue ReadingArts and Culture: Alice Maher and Irish Readers
When Irish artist Alice Maher was commissioned to make drawings for the National Library of Ireland, she thought, naturally, about readers. Combine that with her interest in identities, particularly gendered identities, and you have her series, Lectores Mirabiles (Wonderful Readers). She gave us permission to use Lectores Mirabiles V for the cover of The Wake…
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Poet and Belfast native Ciaran Carson was raised as a native Irish speaker by his parents, who were NOT raised as native speakers, but … here is how Carson explains it in a 2004 remembrance of his father, a postman who was also an Esperanto speaker: It was in the Belfast GPO [General Post Office]…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “To Be Said” by Vona Groarke
To Be Said Let’s walk the shoreline with it all to be said and nothing between us but salt. Let the waves trip on the part of your name I don’t dare. Let the shingle cup your footfall and the sea-wind straddle the breath you don’t use. We’ll hold our tongues. Let you say nothing,…
Continue ReadingA Lil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.
The Antioch Review provided a lovely insight into both the cover art and the poetry of Medbh McGuckian’s My Love Has Fared Inland. Describing the cover, Smith writes: “Just look at this, the reader might say, with the critics who have emphasized the painter’s practice within McGuckian’s poems: ‘A gray trembling flame left the ceilings…
Continue ReadingPoetry & Music
Ireland has given us many pleasures, poetry and music among them. The only thing better than Irish music or poetry is an Irish poem sung in a song. Irish Folk singer Christy Moore has done just that with the title track off his latest album, “Folk Tale,” written by Irish poet Paula Meehan. Moore tells…
Continue ReadingDid You Know…
We’re back! After weeks of working on redesigning our blog we have finally finished and are excited to post again. Today is the first in what will become a series of posts on little known facts about our poets. We will start with one of the poets who just joined us on our Women’s Anthology…
Continue ReadingNews Updates
Hello everyone! Some updates on the wonderful world of Irish poetry in North America: We have received Brendan Kennelly’s newest book, The Essential Brendan Kennelly, today! Very exciting news. The Women’s Anthology tour is well underway. The ladies have since been in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York, with great crowds at each place. Thank you everyone…
Continue ReadingLittle Change, Big Change
Proofing for Harry Clifton we slowly realized that somewhere between the original hard copy and the more recent copy he sent us, a few changes had been made. Some of these changes are minimal: a new comma, or a period replaced by an ellipse. But other changes are significant enough to alter the meaning of…
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