Stalwart

Jean Bleakney

evokes that Dickensian-sounding

litany of underachievers: navelwort,

non-flowering quillwort, the underwater

awlwort, the milk-less nipplewort,

the floating rootless bladderwort,

the brassier-by-far and toxic ragwort,

but most of all, this double-flowered

soapwort; not ‘garden-worthy’ as sold

(though not as invasive as feared

at first ... it’s been five years) but

tholed nonetheless. A stopgap

between hardy geraniums.

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 121:

Edited by Eavan Boland

Eavan Boland's first issue as editor of Poetry Ireland Review aims to encourage a conversation about poetry which is 'noisy and fractious certainly ... but a conversation nevertheless that can be thrilling in its reach and commitment'. There are new poems from Thomas McCarthy, Jean Bleakney, Wendy Holborow, Paul Perry, Aifric Mac Aodha, and many others, while the issue also includes work from Brigit Pegeen Kelly, with an accompanying essay on the poet by Eavan Boland. Eavan Boland also offers an introduction to the work of poet Solmaz Sharif, while there are reviews of the latest books from Simon Armitage, Peter Sirr, Lo Kwa Mei-en, and Vona Groarke, among others. PIR 121 also includes Theo Dorgan's elegiac tribute to his friend John Montague – a canonical poet, in contrast to the emerging poets Susannah Dickey, Conor Cleary and Majella Kelly, who contribute new work and will also read for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series as part of ILFD 2017.