The Books of Dead Friends
Beautiful lofty things on our shelves,
waiting to be remembered. Hold one,
run your fingers over broken spines,
splintering covers, feel the heft of
ancient cities, conquests, superb defeats,
all the blessings and curses of dreams
they dreamed together. They know,
I think, they’ve been abandoned,
no one else will be as incredulous, in awe.
Children whose only wish is to please,
yes, indeed, such beautiful lofty things,
rowdy, quaint and diffident. A sacrilege,
trespassing on the thoughts, intimacy
of voyages loved now a little less.
Poetry Ireland Review Issue 116:
A WB Yeats Special Issue
This essential Yeats anniversary publication is edited by Vona Groarke and includes responses to Yeats’s legacy and readings of his poems from public figures as diverse as Bill Whelan, Neil Jordan, Colm Tóibín, Frank McGuinness, Mary Costello and John Banville, along with new poems responding to Yeats’s work by Irish and international poets such as Margaret Atwood, Sharon Olds, Philip Schultz, Sinéad Morrissey and Harry Clifton. The issue also includes Yeats’s poetry collections, reviewed by leading poets as if just published. Now also available in hardback.
"superb special edition" John Boland, Irish Independent
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