Poetry news update – three new poems coming soon

Happy Poetry Month! It has certainly been a strange time of flux for the creative impulse during the past year. Like many others, I worried, during the first lockdown, that my pull towards poetry would be compromised - even suspended indefinitely. With the all-consuming pandemic anxiety, fear of the unknown and our national sense of grief for the casualties of covid-19, making new art was no longer a priority; it became something I genuinely jostled with. In the depths of the prevailing stasis, however, I found that my hunger for reading poetry had in no way subsided. And little by little, my appetite to create my own new work reawakened, so that when “Henrietta’s Confession” was published in the June 2020 issue of The Honest Ulsterman, I actually did a happy dance. Subsequently, when I was invited by Galway Contemporary Music Project to compose a poem in response to Debussy’s string quartet, I was truly excited to take up the ekphrastic challenge. I’ve written a short article about this experience elsewhere on this blog. By that stage, I was making my peace with lockdowns, recognising that, in spite of all, the seasons remained constant around me and life went on, albeit in a radically altered world. I also published a poem for a dear new friend, Cassie, whom I met immediately prior to the first lockdown, and about our friendship which flourished, in spite of the challenges of social distancing, and this poem appeared on that wonderful nurturing blog, Pendemic. Lastly, I wrote an essay on the value of literary citizenship which appeared in issue 13 of Skylight 47, a journal I greatly admire. Unsurprisingly, there were dodgy, existential covid-anxiety poems along the road too, but on the whole, I kept the pen moving, without forcing the words forth on stickier days. And so, when the year turned, and we had survived, all things poetic seemed to be looking up considerably. Since early February of this year, I’ve been teaching ‘The Craft of Poetry’ to a dedicated, vibrant group of poets for the Centre for Adult Education at NUI Galway and that conversation with a community of writers has been wholly energising. And I’m also delighted to share with you that three newly composed poems will be coming out shortly. Firstly, my poem “Ode to Blue Cheese” will feature in issue 14 of Skylight 47, due to be launched in early May. I certainly indulged my love of cheese varieties during the three consecutive lockdowns, and sometimes we just have to eulogise the little things that keep us going, don't we? Hopefully that ode supremo, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), would have approved!

Another new poem of mine, “Adam’s Apple” features in a brand new anthology about climate change that has just come out from the wonderful Doire Press: Empty House: poems and prose on the climate crisis and which is due to be launched on Earth Day, 22 April. See invitation to this online launch below and please do join us!

This poem was inspired by the observation that creation myths in First Nation cultures tend to be much closer to the natural world, and in much greater harmony to it, than our own Western myth of origins, which positions us as masters lording it over earth and the food chain. Last but not least, I was recently commissioned by Strokestown Poetry Festival to compose a poem on the theme of ‘new beginnings’ as the country slowly starts to re-open and as more and more people are safely vacinated against covid-19. My poem, “Summering” takes inspiration from that famous quote, once uttered by Seamus Heaney, which gave solace to many through the various stages of the pandemic: “If we winter this one out, we can Summer anywhere.” But that’s about all I can divulge at this stage as a recording of the poem will be going out on the Strokestown Poetry Festival website during the festival between 1-2 May. Stay tuned for further updates soon. In the meantime, thanks so much for checking in, stay safe and enjoy Poetry Month to the full!