The Pull of the Stars

 

Emma Donoghue's latest novel is set in a Dublin hospital in 1918. It follows the lives of three women over three days, Nurse Julia Power, Bridie Sweeney a boarder in the nun's motherhouse sent to help as a runner, Doctor Kathleen Lynn, and the patients of the Maternity/Fever ward. Dr. Lynn was an actual person who lived from 1874-1955. 

The Pull of the Stars is a timely book marking the centenary of the outbreak of the great flu/the Spanish flu. The novel draws striking parallels between that pandemic and COVID-19. I was impressed by the book's exploration of society, the plight of women bound to years of pregnancies without contraception, the consequences of World War 1 and the 1916 Rising, the harshness of industrial schools and mother and baby homes under the rod of the Catholic Church. 

The hospital scenes are full of detail and can be quite graphic but they must reflect the realities of childbirth. Donoghue does not hold back. Nurse Power, in conversation with Dr. Lynn as she performs a post mortem, learns that the word influenza derives from the medieval Italian thought that illness was written in the stars, influenza delle stelle - the influence of stars. The last quarter of the book is a romance and with tenderness and abandon to that genre we are swept away briefly. 

I enjoyed this offering but I would have loved learning more about the characters. Nevertheless, Donoghue is always a satisfying read, and one of my favourite authors. The Pull of the Stars was recently shortlisted for An Post Irish Book Awards Eason's Novel of the Year. Thanks to Meath County Library Service for sending it to me for review. 

Meath Writers' Circle 6th Annual Magazine

 

Congratulations to Meath Writers' Circle on the production of their magazine for the 6th year in a row. The journal of poetry and story is edited by Eugene Kane, Gabriel McDonnell, Seán Kane and Frank Murphy. Cover design is by Eugene Kane, with artwork and printing by Darby Print, Trim. 

Special thanks to Frank Murphy of  Tara Poetry Blog for taking my poem. A feature of this issue is a sport section, hence my ode of sorts to Faf de Klerk is included. The magazine features work from local writers and also includes pieces by Theo Dorgan and John B. Keane. There is a music section and a young writers' section. 

On a day when the Argentinian soccer great Diego Maradona has passed, Murphy's editorial comment that sport 'is something of a neglected form in writers' circles, even though it is often the first thing that people turn to when they purchase a newspaper or access the local media', seems apt. Don't cry for me Argentina...

'Bloody Amazing' Poetry Anthology

 

Cover image by Jane Burn

Bloody Amazing is a collection of 123 taboo smashing poems about periods, the menopause and more. It is a collaboration between Yaffle and Beautiful Dragons Press, Dragon Yaffle. It is edited by Gill Lambert and Rebecca Bilkau. In the editorial they write that women are 'accidentally colluding in a taboo that says we shouldn't talk about our periods or our menopause because we're nice girls. Heroines.' 

Opening with Doireann Ní Ghríofa's While Bleeding, a poem in which the writer tries on a red coat in a vintage boutique 'as a cramp curls again/where blood stirs and melts', the collection describes an array of situations in which women adjust to their bodies, its changes and needs. In Red Dragon, Yvonne Ugarte is only 10 when her period arrives 'causing panic and confusion' in her foster care home, 'staining sheets'. Ugarte is thankful 'for the menopause when the red dragon left my life for good.' A lot of the poets are glad to see the end of their periods. Finola Scott finds herself free to be herself when 'Those scarlet tsunamis' are gone in After The Hysterectomy. Similarly, in Sonnet For Women Of A Certain Age, Tonnie Richmond says 'Your shrivelled womb means happy days to come/of even-tempered mood, no monthly tears.' Mandy MacDonald feels 'bloody amazing' after The End Of Her Period Period. 

The arrival of menstruation is a common subject in the anthology, as it should, being a remarkable occasion in a young woman's life. For Sandra Burnett it is a frightening event when she even fears 'I'm on my way to Heaven.' Luckily a friend's sister passes her a book about 'how girls are transformed into women' in 1954 - A Period of Time. Luckily times have changed, somewhat! Jhilmil Breckenridge advises a welcoming attitude to, and an acceptance of,  the monthly cycle in her wise The Visitor Who Ends Up Staying Forever. 

Many women feel that their time of the month is like a curse, finding pain but a sense of power, communion and magic in its spell. Sue Hubbard writes in The Curse, 'We are joined in blood/by the slow pull of the moon's/waning' and in Cursed, Sarah Miles names her period 'the stain of womanhood'. In Eve's Punishment, Miranda Lynn Barnes is 'On all fours like a dog,/I'm crawling, crying,'. In Witch Club Izzy Brittain imagines 'Each month we grow a bit more wolf-like'. She calls on us to 'Sing songs about the potency of pussy'. 

There are 123 poems and reasons to get a copy of Bloody Amazing. Denni Turp's How Change Comes - and not in a good way is a thoughtful, reflective work, Pat Edwards writes cleverly and sadly about conception in Misconception, and Maeve McKenna touches on fertility too in A Meal for One. Regardless of one's age there will be a piece that speaks to the woman you currently are, in the book. I found some consolation within its pages and this is always a good thing to offer a reader. 

Congratulations to the editors and to all the women who contributed to Bloody Amazing. The variety of subject and personal account in its womb, are a gift to women. Men might also find these testimonies informative and enlightening. As Lambert and Bilkau write 'we're half the world, us women, more, and we've nothing to taboo about.' Bloody Amazing costs £10 plus postage and packing and this modern anthology of poetry can be  purchased here.

Massacre of the Birds, by Mary O'Donnell, Salmon Poetry 2020

In the winter garden

at full moon.

I watch the fields

turn to watered silk,

a chemise for the ghosts of me;

from Nocturnal, Mary O'Donnell

Massacre of the Birds is Mary O'Donnell's 4th poetry collection from Salmon Poetry. Reading the Sunflowers in September, Spiderwoman's Third Avenue Rhapsody and Unlegendary Heroes were all published in the 1990's. She is a novelist and The Light-Makers won The Sunday Tribune's Best New Irish Novel in 1992. She has won The William Allingham Award, The Listowel Writers’ Week Short Story Prize and The Fish International Short Story Award. Short story collections include Strong Pagans (Poolbeg, 1991), Storm Over Belfast (New Island Books, 2008), and Empire (Arlen House, 2018). She taught creative writing at Maynooth University and teaches poetry on Galway University's MA in Creative Writing. She is a member of the Irish Writers' Union, and a board member of the Irish Writers' Centre. She is a member of Aosdána. Her 2014 novel Where They Lie focuses on the 'Disappeared'. 

Hanging House in a Canal, the opening poem of Massacre of the Birds,  is dedicated to fellow writer Jean O'Brien and the collection is speckled with works in praise of, and defending women. Other poems are dedicated to Mary Guckian, Eileen Battersby, Mary O'Keefe and Bridget Flannery. It Wasn't a Woman is a list of violent crimes committed against the innocent by men and #MeToo, 12 Remembered Scenes and a Line remembers 12 incidents in which the writer was trespassed, the last line being 'I was never raped.' Finding 'Our Place' Heroic tackles the misogyny that found its way into  the drafting of the Irish constitution under De Valera. 

The plight of refugees from Syria is explored by the writer. In the beautiful The Little Waves, like Judgements, she admires the resilience of those who have found a place to stay in Sweden, they walk with dignity 'As if nothing had happened'. The poet finds a striking humility in their maintenance of an innocence, 'Their faces knowing only the future.' The displacement of the Syrian people though is like a judgement. Who is to blame? The Blackbird, God Almighty and Allah answers some of the poet's question. In the bird's song of nature she can find a peaceful faith that no organised religion can offer. 

In poems about her mother O'Donnell is sage and understanding. Travelling to see her, she ponders the nature of growing old and passing the Hill of Tara, from the motorway realises '...all that sunken ground,/what shifts beneath us/even as we live' in Mother, I am Crying. On Reading my Mother's Sorrow Diary reveals some of the inner thoughts of a mother, her unending love for her husband, her loyalty to her daughters and daily tittle-tattle. My Mother says No on Bloomsday is a reference to the power of saying 'no' and it describes a care shown in filial duty. 

From her very essence O'Donnell seeks to understand a broken and changing world. She tries to comprehend it as a voice of the Me Too movement, as a citizen of the world aghast at the refugee crisis in the Middle East, and as an observer of global warming. She is passionately involved in this life. The collection's titular poem A Husband's Lament for the Massacre of the Birds is a deeply felt lament for a destruction of the environment. This is a timely collection that deserves attention. It is current and insightful. The closing poem is as mysterious and prophetic as the closing lines of Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby. O'Donnell writes in The Future Wears a Yellow Hat that time to come 'greets us effortlessly,/waving its yellow hat/as we cross a high bridge/from opposite directions,/smiling'. Perhaps this is a calling to be more present!

Massacre of the Birds is now available here, from Salmon Poetry. The launch will take place this coming Thursday, November 12th at 7.30 pm online via zoom. Attendance can be booked here with Eventbrite.

Drawn to the Light Poetry Chapbook

 

My chapbook of 26 poems is now available on Amazon as a paperback, or e-book. It can be purchased from here. It can also be purchased and previewed to the right, by clicking on the sidebar image. --->