Too Late

Faye Boland

By the time the seas are clogged with plastic

and the last fish has gasped its final breath

it will be too late to save the seagulls

who starved to death, gullets obstructed

by shards of plastic. Too late for the seals,

smothered by bags and six-pack rings.

Small-fry voices protest, swim against

the current. No space

to breathe.

By the time the tide turns

it will be too late to save the dodo,

butchered into extinction by sailors,

the Tasmanian tiger and the baiji dolphin.

And no-one will remember the noble elk

who wandered our forests

or the lonely howl

of the last wolf

before she fell.

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 124:

Edited by Eavan Boland

Poetry Ireland Review 124 contains new poems from Paula Meehan, Ciarán O'Rourke, Lizzy Nichols, Mark Ward, Gabriel Rosenstock, Özgecan Kesici, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and many other compelling voices. Also included is Eilean Ni Chuilleanáin's remembrance of her Cork childhood, excerpted from The Vibrant House: Irish Writing and Domestic Space, a book of essays reviewed in issue 124 by Caitríona O'Reilly. Other books considered in this issue include collections from Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Mark Granier, Tara Bergin, The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets, and the Collected Poems of the late Dennis O'Driscoll, and there's also a short interview with Thomas Kinsella along with an essay on Kinsella as poet and civil servant. Another Kinsella is this issue’s Featured Poet, Alice Kinsella, and all artwork for the issue is supplied by artists associated with the Olivier Cornet Gallery on Great Denmark Street, around the corner from Poetry Ireland.

Available now to purchase online or in all good bookstores.