Found Wanting
It’s said the last letter written
by the deceased
was found in the garden.
But I’ve seen men write in his hand before.
And I’ve heard men do him in different voices.
In this age the most dangerous thing
is to listen and I know if I read the letter
I wouldn’t know whose voice it was I heard.
Even now, I do not know him well enough.
Even now, I can’t open the envelope.
Even now, a dead man knows more
of what it is I’ve lost.
Poetry Ireland Review Issue 119:
Poetry Ireland Review Issue 119 includes new poems by 48 poets including Frank Ormsby, John Kinsella, Rachel Coventry, Aifric Mac Aodha, Gerald Dawe, Alice Miller and Claire Potter. Also included are translations by Richard Begbie and Kirsten Lodge, an essay on Bishop, Lowell, Heaney and Grennan by David McLoghlin, and reviews of Paul Muldoon, Paul Durcan, Sarah Clancy, Medbh McGuckian, Kate Tempest, George the Poet, and many more. The issue also features photography by Hugh O'Conor, Dominic Turner, Sheila McSweeney, Fergus Bourke and John Minihan.