Hats Off

Louis de Paor

Hold on to me and we’ll both drown

– John Berryman

have you noticed

how their hair shines,

the colour of their cheeks

and nails, eyes lit,

shaped and shaded

to match their bright

new clothes, happiness

dripping from them,

head to toe

the middle-aged women

who are about to leave

their husbands & children

locked up in the attic

where they found

whatever they were looking for

all these years

only they didn’t realise

what it was till they found it?

I have not, you say,

heading out the door,

smelling so sweet

you’d give a daisy

bad thoughts,

a vintage hat

tilted over one eye

that is still sea-deep

full of shipwrecks

and manwrecks

women crying

and one boy

who keeps going

down again and again

no matter how

you try to stop him:

he almost

drowned

in you once

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 120:

Edited by Vona Groarke

Vona Groarke's final issue as editor is packed with new poems from leading contemporary poets, including Simon Armitage, Sinéad Morrissey, Colette Bryce, Paul Muldoon, Sean O'Brien and Caitríona O'Reilly. Books reviewed include new work from Derek Mahon, Bernard O'Donoghue, Rita Ann Higgins, Martina Evans, Denise Riley and the 2016 Forward Prize winner Vahni Capildeo. The centrepiece of the issue is an interview with Paul Muldoon in which the Armagh maestro shares his thoughts on subjects as diverse as public surveillance, the economic down-turn, and the exclamation mark. The cover image is by photographer Justyna Kielbowicz, and the issue also contains award-winning artwork from Sven Sandberg, Aoife Dunne, Jane Rainey, and Michelle Hall. Instead of an editorial, Vona herself answers the questionnaire she put to the contributors of Poetry Ireland Review Issue 118: The Rising Generation.