Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Selection of New Irish Poets

2005; Irish American Cultural Institute; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/eir.2005.0020

1550-5162

Matthew Fluharty,

Irish and British Studies

A Selection of New Irish Poets Matthew Fluharty (bio) In 2002 I co-edited the poetry volume, Breaking the Skin: Twenty-First Century Irish Writing, an initial attempt to gather the promising voices of twenty-first century Irish poetry.1 Since the publication of that anthology, numerous other efforts have further refined the lists and introduced new poets into the fray, all the while presenting their work to a wider readership.2 Thus, in the three years since the publication of the Breaking the Skin anthology, many of the poets included in it have done more than simply "emerge"; they have formed a nucleus as the new guard of critics, editors, and spokespersons for Irish poetry. The poets presented within the following pages are no exception. Each brings an impressive catalogue of awards and a substantial list of publications. Having published widely before their first collections, they have since exerted a sustained presence within the milieu of Irish poetry, both at home and abroad. Like the generation preceding them, these poets are a mobile group. Half of those included within this selection live outside the geographic and political boundaries of Northern Ireland and the Republic; their poetry reflects such widespread vantage points as Illinois and Massachusetts in the US, as well as Britain and Wales. [End Page 256] These poems mine what David Butler calls "the hollow of memory,"3 surveying John McAuliffe's real and imagined landscape of the "Hall of the Present Life."4 A patient, painterly attention to the way images accumulate appears in Alan Gillis's work or in the measured visual lineations of Caitríona O'Reilly and Aidan Rooney-Céspedes. Although these poets wield considerable technical control, theirs is not a purely cerebral poetry. Instead, we see Mary O'Donoghue and Nessa O'Mahony using the poem as a space in which personal histories may be revised, transformed by the subtle cross-currents of the narrative and lyric impulse. Indeed, these eight writers are creating their art during a charged era for poetry in Ireland. The island's many literary magazines provide vital platforms for critical discussion and poetic interplay, and there is a strong willingness to publish and applaud new poets.5 This generation is also witness to the gathering popularity of "creative writing," both as a field of study and a form of employment. Such a development reflects a healthy public interest in the art form—as evidenced by the many well-organized series of readings and book launches occurring across the counties. I stress that the pages that follow are a selection, for there simply are too many new and talented voices to be contained within a single short feature. For this selection, I limited the criteria to Irish-born poets with no more than two collections. I am confident these poets will continue to be read and recognized. Matthew Fluharty Matthew Fluharty, an independent writer and scholar, is currently researching the connections between the work of Paul Muldoon and that of the New York School of poets and painters. He has previously co-edited Breaking the Skin: An Anthology of Emerging Irish Poets (2002); his poetry and interviews have been published in journals such as Metre, The Missouri Review, Notre Dame Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. Fluharty holds a Master's with Distinction in English Literature, with an Irish Literature and Culture concentration, from Boston College. He also holds a Master's in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Footnotes 1. Breaking the Skin: Twenty-First Century Irish Writing, Volume 2: New Irish Poetry, ed. Nigel McLoughlin, Matthew Fluharty, and Frank Sewel (Ballyclare, Antrim: Black Mountain Press, 2002). 2. The New Irish Poets, ed. Selina Guinness (Bloodaxe, 2004), is the most ambitious in size and scope. 3. "Absence," 260. 4. "The Weather," 265. 5. Though Poetry Ireland Review has been a constant presence for many years, the last decade has seen the emergence of The Black Mountain Review and Irish Pages in the North; The Shop and The Stinging Fly in the South; and Metre, a journal with editors spread throughout Europe. Their respective Arts Councils, individual patrons, and institutional funding support these periodicals. Copyright © 2005 Irish American Cultural Institute...