Ravishment

Zoe Brigley Thompson

(noun) 1. rapture or ecstasy; 2. violent removal; 3. the forcible

abduction of a woman; 4. rape.

If she is a well, stony in solitude,

the one who loves her is a seeker

lowered down on a rope in the dark

to rescue whatever creature

or child, clutching an arm

or a leg, might lie at bottom.

* * *

I have written to you so many times

about closed courtyards, the spring

that wells up in Song of Solomon,

the rose garden that my grandfather

tended, where the gorgeous faces

of flowers gazed at the smouldering

wreckage of cars. Only you know

that the interior place I dreamed

was a garden razed, the door split

on its hinges and gaping, and how

to shore up that small square space

enough to unfasten myself for you?

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.