Tagged: “Belfast”
An Interview with Frank Ormsby on THE DARKNESS OF SNOW
WFU Press interns gathered to ask the poet Frank Ormsby more about his collection, The Darkness of Snow. Written in five parts, the poems explore vast territory from Ormsby’s childhood in Fermanagh, to life with Parkinson’s, to the difficulty of bearing witness in the face of atrocity. Here, the poet discusses poetic friendships, recurring themes in his poetry, and the anti-muse.
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 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 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: “Open Rose” by Medbh McGuckian
Open Rose The moon is my second face, her long cycle Still locked away. I feel rain Like a tied-on dress, I clutch it Like a book to my body. His head is there when I work, It signs my letters with a question-mark; His hands reach for me like rationed air. Day by day…
Continue ReadingLouis MacNeice Poetry Evening
On May 17th, in conjunction with Ireland’s National Poetry Day celebrations, contemporary poets gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of Louis MacNeice’s death. Sinéad Morrissey, Ciaran Carson, Lucy Caldwell, and others joined together for readings at Ulster Hall in Belfast. MacNeice also has an international appeal, as demonstrated by the participation of Bermudian poet Paul…
Continue ReadingDid you know…
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]…
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