Spring has sprung and 2019 has been off to a good start with recent publications in issue 7 of The Bangor Literary Journal, edited by Amy Wyatt Rafferty, issue #5 of Impossible Archetype, edited by Mark Ward, Ink, Sweat and Tears, edited by Helen Ivory and the current issue of FOURXFOUR, edited by Colin Dardis and Geraldine O'Kane.
In April I will have two poems in volume five of Quarryman. I will also have a poem in ROPES literary journal, the theme of which is 'Unearthed' for 2019. The journal will be launched as part of the Cúirt Festival.
I was also delighted to learn that I had been shortlisted for The Cúirt New Writing Prize by judge Thomas McCarthy. Congrats to those who were also shortlisted: Evan Costigan, Holly Hughes, Andrew Pelham Burn, Breda Spaight, Vincent Steed, Lisa de Jong and Fiona Smith. The winner was Jeremy Luttrell Haworth. I record the judge's comments on my work for posterity:
"‘I never thanked the water for all that it taught me’ begins the very
fine ‘Rivers,’ a poem that creates a marvellous pen picture of an entire
childhood world, the kingdom of a child’s farm. The magic of roaming the
fields of Cloncullen, out-running the river but never out-running time,
is beautifully done. It is beautiful writing. Time also features in ‘My
Dandelion Clock’ where ‘It was heaven on earth/ and I did not know I was
Icarus,/ wings waxen in the sun.’ This is a terrific poem, a meditation
on time and time’s changes. ‘How the west was Won’ is also a
consideration of the predations of time: ‘What hope did my Sioux friend
have,’ the poet asks, conscious of how the civilisation of The Lone
Ranger and Wyatt Earp would finally usurp an entire set of nations. This
selection of poems, therefore, is impressive in its wisdom, its
humanity, and its great sweeping narrative".
