The Razor
Coming in from the South, blown in
on a cone of air and a hangover,
my heart’s salmon-leap at the sight of it,
all city glitter, all liquid supple thing.
Head, shear-diagonal; body, lipstick-
columnar, tongued turbines sift air
just like abacus beads create streaming
numbers and my thoughts shift to beauty,
to pure abstraction. Hungerford Bridge:
barred light, straps of shade, slab me in.
Quick, fix it, reach back to it, hold the turbines –
which flip, line up coin-rim-flat, deliver
a triple, perfect-oval sky; and the heart-gasp of it,
shock-through of it, pierces, gifts me joy.
Poetry Ireland Review Issue 117:
Issue 117 includes new poems from over twenty five poets from Ireland, the UK, the US and elsewhere, along with three new poems by Michael Longley, one of the UK’s foremost contemporary poets. The issue features reviews of more than twenty new poetry collections, including books by Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Claudia Rankine, Louise Gluck, Eavan Boland, Dennis O’Driscoll and Dermot Healy. Interviews include a feature on photographer, Seamus Murphy, about collaborating with musician and poet PJ Harvey and poet Eliza Griswold on separate publications, as well as an interview with Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis by Colette Bryce. Colour plates include photography by Seamus Murphy and artwork by Niamh Flanagan.