Poetry Ireland Introductions E-Book

Paul Lenehan

• Herausgeber: Poetry Ireland
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 68

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Poetry Ireland Introductions is a collection of poetry from the very best of Ireland's emerging poets for 2016, as chosen by Poetry Ireland, the national poetry organisation. Along with their vibrant and various new work, each poet provides answers to a set of quirky questions about their aspirations and inspirations as poets, including their current favourite word, their worst poetry habit, and whether they've ever used poetry as a seduction technique. Quality poems and quality prose from Poetry Ireland: connecting poetry and people. Poets included in Selected Poems 2016 are: Lisa Allen, Amanda Bell, Alvy Carragher, Evan Costigan, A.M. Cousins, Ellen Cranitch, Maurice Devitt, Roisin Kelly, Sophie Meehan, Manuela Moser, Padraig Regan, Ben Simmons.

Leseprobe

Poetry Ireland Introductions aims to encourage excellence in the craft of poetry, while raising the profile of talented, emerging poets.

The series offers poets in the early stages of their careers, writing in Irish or English, the opportunity to showcase their work through workshops and performance. The poets selected for the Introductions series participate in a workshop focused on poetic form and craft, as well as a masterclass on the art of reading and performing poetry in public.

These workshops culminate in a series of public readings.

www.poetryireland.ie/writers/introductions-series

This sampler of work from the poets who read for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series in 2016 is published by Poetry Ireland, 2017

ISSN: 2009-9894

ISBN: 978-1-902121-68-0

Contents

Alan Jude Moore

INTRODUCTION

Lisa Allen

GIVEMEBACK

PACKMEUP

QUESTIONNAIRE

Amanda Bell

LEONARDCOHENINTHE 02, SEPTEMBER 2013

THEDARKNESS

QUESTIONNAIRE

Alvy Carragher

CANALBANKMOONWALK

THECARPENTER’SDAUGHTER

QUESTIONNAIRE

Evan Costigan

MENWHOWORKINMENSWEARSHOPS

SLEEPOVER

QUESTIONNAIRE

A.M Cousins

BLESSED

MARIORA

QUESTIONNAIRE

Ellen Cranitch

SANTAFE

BLASKETSOUND

QUESTIONNAIRE

Maurice Devitt

THESHOES

THEWATCH

QUESTIONNAIRE

Roisin Kelly

EDEN

QUESTIONNAIRE

Sophie Meehan

BONESBRIGADE

THEFUTURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Manuela Moser

PRELUDE

APPARITIONS

QUESTIONNAIRE

Padraig Regan

AUBADE

APPLES, CHERRIES, APRICOTS & OTHERFRUITSINABASKETWITHPEARS, PLUMS ...

QUESTIONNAIRE

Ben Simmons

YOUDIDNOTSTIRINTHENORTHSEA

THEANCHORANDTHEWEIGHT

QUESTIONNAIRE

Notes on Contributors

Introduction

The Poetry Ireland Introductions series is an important signpost on the poetry landscape here. These readings give emerging poets a chance to showcase themselves and their work as part of a professionally organised event, for which each poet receives a reading fee. For the last few years these readings took place as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin, and they’ll do so again in 2017; for many of the participants it’s their first experience of such a high-profile reading environment. It’s a chance for the poets, often writing without any support network, to get valuable recognition for the work they’re doing and the progress they’ve made. Crucially, it’s also a chance to get this feedback from outside their immediate circle of friends or family. The hope is always that taking part in Introductions will be a platform for them to go on to greater things, but if those who take part at least continue to progress and develop, then the series has done its job.

As I get older, time seems to pass more quickly and, with that, becomes more strictly rationed to cover routine obligations and the ever-intrusive business of making a living. Then, of course, there is writing and the time necessary for thinking about writing – reflection is not always procrastination, and poems nearly always require some active thought. So, to cut a long story short, while it has been a pleasure to be involved over the past few years with the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, to be fair to all who make it happen, including those who submit their work, it was time this year to call it a day and let someone else take on the task of adjudication, and give each submission the full attention it deserves.

Poetry can be a divisive act at the best of times, but the Introductions readings seem to instill a sense of community among the poets who take part. Thankfully, in my experience of the workshops, this is rarely to the point of a dull consensus, the sworn enemy of creativity. The poets who take part discuss, evaluate and argue, but it is always in an atmosphere of respect. The coordinators from Poetry Ireland, formerly Ayoma Bowe, currently Elizabeth Mohen, deserve great credit for this and the work they do in general to put the whole thing together, and to make everyone feel part of something worthwhile.

With poets taking part who are resident in Ireland, and also Irish poets based around the world, the readings already reflect the diversity of our contemporary lives. While the submissions generally reflect the social changes that have taken place over the last few years, I think one of the most exciting developments in the future will be how poetry in Ireland is enriched by voices from the new communities that have set down roots here over the past twenty years or so. That surely will be the next big shift in Irish literature, bringing new perspectives on multicultural Ireland and adding new hues to the palette of Irish poetry. Hopefully, the Introductions readings will continue to give them a platform.

The germ of poetry comes from deep within whatever it is that makes us human. The spiritual among us might call it the soul, the rational might refer to our consciousness. Whatever you believe it is, and whether you believe we are the masters of our destiny or that we are guided by some higher power, poetry – art in general, probably – is born of this spark. The religious poet or the secular poet will almost certainly differ in their approach to subject matter, but what they have in common is greater than what differentiates them: it is something that no algorithm can generate or capture, and even if there is some bot somewhere churning out what looks like poetry, that’s all it ever will be, an assembly of characters made to look like something. It will be a reminder of what was, and is.

So the Poetry Ireland Introductions series, in however small a way, helps keep us on the right side of that line, it encourages and promotes that which makes us human, that which helps us stay that way. Long may it continue, and I wish all those who take part or submit their work in the future, as well as those who just go along to watch and listen, the best of fortune and continued success.

– Alan Jude Moore

February 2017

The questionnaire included in this sampler is taken from issue 118 of Poetry Ireland Review, where poets were invited to answer their own selection from a series of thirty questions posed by editor Vona Groarke.

Lisa Allen

GIVEMEBACK

Give me back that earthy child

who names the outlines of her face

in a cloud. Give me back that mist-slapped

shout, the drizzle of breath-soft rain,

the blue dust beneath ragged pines

where we walked.

Give me back our long drives,

days spent at the edges of things:

the green seas, the bubbling tides,

the mussel nurseries

beneath our feet, inky shells poking

through rock pools

– the edge of a cliff, the top

of a mountain, the side of a lake.

Give me back the hurtling towards it

– arms flung out to the side,

the long drop tensed

beneath us, the surface smashing

– hard diamonds splitting the air.

Give me back that burning strip of light

between land and sky,

the van packed with rain gear

and blankets, with beer

and our laughter

– that evening we pitch

our tent at Baltimore, a red triangle.

You studiously gathering stones

for the fire – your sudden laughter.

Give me back the suck

of breath drawn in,

the stare and shine

of the first pill,

my pocket torch hanging

inside the tent

– your face glowing.

Lisa Allen

PACKMEUP

Pack me up, go on, I dare you:

flat-pack me like cheap mince

or watery chicken breast, pumped up

with hormones and antibiotics

– plastic things –

hold me down, set me in styrofoam,

bend my legs whatever way you want to

– the magician’s box of nudity. Dye

my blood red for authenticity

– make my hair look good, my face

confectionary – get the meat

and sugar right. Get the meat

and sugar right:

Split me.

Joint up my rump, my thigh

my belly – ’cos I’m lean and juicy:

Tag me, label me, barcode me,

give me a value, assign me a price,