A Poem in Poetry Ireland Review

I have a new poem published in Poetry Ireland Review, issue 137 edited by Gerald Dawe. The poem ‘High Summer World of Light’ takes as its starting point a 2009 abstract painting of the same name by Gillian Ayres.

It’s my first time in the magazine after a few times of trying, and it’s about my twentieth published poem since my 2018 collection. The poem is ekphrastic in so much as its starting point was the painting but it is also an assemblage of memories, some real, some imagined, and it is also influenced by its date, 2009, the year after the global financial crash, and, incidentally, the year that the final Woolworths store closed down. Woolworths is mentioned in the poem.

It’s wonderful to be published in such a beautifully produced magazine. My thanks to editor Gerald Dawe for selecting my poem and to all of the Poetry Ireland team who’ve been so lovely to liaise with via email while proofs of the poem were approved.

I seem to have had a good run of acceptances this year but that’s only because several publications have arrived at once. My rejections still outweigh my acceptances on balance. However, every acceptance feels like a small gift and I’m glad of them.