Hum, Hum by Mary Oliver

1.
One summer afternoon I heard
a looming, mysterious hum
high in the air; then came something

like a small planet flying past –
something

not at all interested in me but on its own
way somewhere, all anointed with excitement:
bees, swarming,

not to be held back.

Nothing could hold them back.

2.
Gannets diving.
Black snake wrapped in a tree, our eyes
meeting.

The grass singing
as it sipped up the summer rain.
The owl in the darkness, that good darkness
under the stars.

The child that was myself, that kept running away
to the also running creek, 
to colt’s foot and trilliams,
to the effortless prattle of the birds.

3. SAID THE MOTHER
You are going to grow up
and in order for that to happen
I am going to have to grow old
and then I will die, and the blame 
will be yours.

4. OF THE FATHER
He wanted a body
so he took mine.
Some wounds never vanish.

Yet little by little 
I learned to love my life.

Though sometimes I had to run hard –
especially from melancholy –

not to be held back.

5. 
I think there ought to be 
a little music here:
hum, hum.

6.
The resurrection of the morning.
The mystery of the night.
The hummingbird’s wings.
The excitement of thunder.
The rainbow in the waterfall.
Wild mustard, that rough blaze of the fields.

The mockingbird, replaying the songs of his 
neighbors.
The bluebird with its unambitious warble
simple yet sufficient.

The shining fish. The beak of the crow.
The new colt who came to me and leaned
against the fence
that I might put my hands upon his warm body
and know no fear.

Also the words of poets
a hundred or hundreds of years dead — 
their words that would not be held back.

7.
Oh the house of denial has thick walls
and very small windows
and whoever lives there, little by little,
will turn to stone.

In those years I did everything I could do 
and I did it in the dark –
I mean, without understanding.

I ran away.
I ran away again.
Then, again, I ran away.

They were awfully little, those bees,
and maybe frightened,
yet unstoppably they flew on, somewhere,
to live their life.

Hum, hum, hum

Aristotle by Billy Collins

This is the beginning. 
Almost anything can happen. 
This is where you find 
the creation of light, a fish wriggling onto land, 
the first word of Paradise Lost on an empty page. 
Think of an egg, the letter A, 
a woman ironing on a bare stage 
as the heavy curtain rises. 
This is the very beginning. 
The first-person narrator introduces himself, 
tells us about his lineage. 
The mezzo-soprano stands in the wings. 
Here the climbers are studying a map 
or pulling on their long woolen socks. 
This is early on, years before the Ark, dawn. 
The profile of an animal is being smeared 
on the wall of a cave, 
and you have not yet learned to crawl. 
This is the opening, the gambit, 
a pawn moving forward an inch. 
This is your first night with her, 
your first night without her. 
This is the first part 
where the wheels begin to turn, 
where the elevator begins its ascent, 
before the doors lurch apart.

This is the middle. 
Things have had time to get complicated, 
messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore. 
Cities have sprouted up along the rivers 
teeming with people at cross-purposes— 
a million schemes, a million wild looks. 
Disappointment unshoulders his knapsack 
here and pitches his ragged tent. 
This is the sticky part where the plot congeals, 
where the action suddenly reverses 
or swerves off in an outrageous direction. 
Here the narrator devotes a long paragraph 
to why Miriam does not want Edward’s child. 
Someone hides a letter under a pillow. 
Here the aria rises to a pitch, 
a song of betrayal, salted with revenge. 
And the climbing party is stuck on a ledge 
halfway up the mountain. 
This is the bridge, the painful modulation. 
This is the thick of things. 
So much is crowded into the middle— 
the guitars of Spain, piles of ripe avocados, 
Russian uniforms, noisy parties, 
lakeside kisses, arguments heard through a wall— 
too much to name, too much to think about.

And this is the end, 
the car running out of road, 
the river losing its name in an ocean, 
the long nose of the photographed horse 
touching the white electronic line. 
This is the colophon, the last elephant in the parade, 
the empty wheelchair, 
and pigeons floating down in the evening. 
Here the stage is littered with bodies, 
the narrator leads the characters to their cells, 
and the climbers are in their graves. 
It is me hitting the period 
and you closing the book. 
It is Sylvia Plath in the kitchen 
and St. Clement with an anchor around his neck. 
This is the final bit 
thinning away to nothing. 
This is the end, according to Aristotle, 
what we have all been waiting for, 
what everything comes down to, 
the destination we cannot help imagining, 
a streak of light in the sky, 
a hat on a peg, and outside the cabin, falling leaves.

https://wordpress.com/post/africmglinchey.wordpress.com/1771

Why You Should Never Marry a Poet by Heather Bell

Think about it – the way that credit cards, bougainvillea,
vacations, dictionaries, the road on the way to work will

all never be enough. The poet wishes
with her deepest bones
and writes that she wishes
she had killed you

in the supermarket. She wonders why
she ever loved you in song. 

She publishes book after book. Each line detailing
how your hair is ugly and monstrous in the morning. And how,
like moss, you cling to her
so piteously. 

But you marry her anyway.
and she looks like a roar of snow
in white. You figure she will read a poem about you
that day in front of everyone: her throat

is, after all, a stamen
or matchstick. 

But she is silent, says only the I DO’s
and a few Bible verses. 

The poet loves with a most violent
heart. What you have not known-
she has wanted to tell you the truth
all of these years,

but grew silent as an old lover does
at eighty. There is no way to say

how one loves the ache of your cracked lips,
the heavy belly of your tongue, the years she spent
feeling not loved,
but still loving. Think about it-

the poet is fearful of others knowing and finding your mouth.

She is frightened of you –
realizing you could have been
loved better or harder
or with real words.

Previously published in @Tender

Easter by Roisín Kelly

As it’s Easter, and Roisín is one of Cork’s own (well, we claim her!) here’s her lovely poem, which first appeared in The Guardian. Just had to share it on my blog:

You walk by holding a bunch of flowers
never knowing that you’ve just performed a miracle.
Are those flowers for your girl?
I imagine her dressed up like an Easter egg
in yellow and pink. I’d tap at you like an egg,
cracking your thin chocolate shell.
If I were made of chocolate too, I’d break
off parts of myself to give to you and your girl.
Once, I gave my words for garden
and water and moonlit and love
to a man who kissed me. After he rolled
a stone over my heart and shut me off
from the world, I had no words left
to describe the dark dream that followed.
Now you’ve walked by, godlike in jeans
and an old t-shirt, the sun glinting on one
silver earring. Now a rose is once again
not only rose but also soft and red
and thorn and bee and honey.
Now a bird is singing song and tree
and nest in a high place and blue speckled egg.
You yourself are glowing with words, they move
up and down you as if they’re alive.
The words bring themselves to me
and tell my tongue sweetness over and over.
The words are everything. With them,
I’ll turn water to wine at your wedding.

And here’s Carol Rumens’ analysis of the poem. Hope she doesn’t mind me sharing it:

From Mercy, the first full-length collection by the young Belfast-born poet, Róisín Kelly, Easter seems to have a special glow to it. And no, the glow isn’t only that of romantic love. The latter is a strong contributory factor, of course: its pains are rekindled for the speaker when her ex-boyfriend walks by “holding a bunch of flowers”. The question “Are those flowers for your girl?” contextualises it a little, while retaining the tonal mystery. Is the voice angry, sarcastic, sorrowful? We might guess it’s all three.

I like the mixed emotions playing throughout the earlier passages of the poem, and how they are finally resolved. Easter eggs initially supply the poetic calories. All three players in the love triangle are turned into chocolate, the man’s current girlfriend being a particularly sickly and triumphant example “dressed up … / in yellow and pink”. The man is seen as the more vulnerable.

Writing a kind of verse letter to the man in question, the speaker imagines tapping him and “cracking your thin chocolate shell”. Birth may be suggested, but death occurs first. She imagines her own comic-extreme self-sacrifice, breaking off parts of her chocolate self to give the man and his girl.

Later on, imagery from the Passion of Christ recalls the numbness and sense of being buried alive “after he rolled / a stone over my heart / and shut me off from the world”. Probably the same boyfriend was the culprit, though not necessarily. Kelly’s change of pronoun leaves it ambiguous. The “sepulchre” analogy is pitched high, yet it’s also faithful to the experience of severe depression, a suffocating stone that’s all too real.

Now the speaker returns the ex-lover to mortal form, a little self-mockingly at first – “godlike in jeans / and an old t-shirt, the sun glinting on one / silver earring”. The mood has changed, perhaps with the recovery of simultaneously erotic and sublimated feelings.

Words withheld and words given become the dominant theme. In line nine, the first of the special, italicised words and phrases, garden, helps the transition to biblical analogy. There is an implied betrayal. But the words are magically potent. They ignite the rose, although they include thorn. They produce birds who lay “blue speckled egg(s)” in nests high in trees. Kelly’s italics slow the reader, so we savour these archetypal symbols, these ordinary happy words, and, importantly, imagine them as the especially meaningful gifts originally offered in the poet’s native Irish language.

Six lines from the end, the poet turns on her full power with that marvellous image of the man clothed in, covered in, words that “move / up and down you, as if they’re alive”. Most significantly, “the words bring themselves to me / and tell my tongue sweetness over and over”. They enable the speaker to find her own words and “The words are everything…” Once more, I was reminded of a passage from the New Testament: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the word was God.”

Out of the rediscovery of inspiration and language comes the generosity of forgiveness – and, of course, the miracle. A miracle was first attributed to the man in the poem’s second line: now, an old-new miracle is performed by the speaker. What could be more generous than turning water to wine at a rival’s wedding feast? And of course the wine is also the poet’s gift-to-self – part of her own word feast, now freely flowing.

Easter appears in the forthcoming collection, Mercy, to be published by Bloodaxe Books in 2020.

Directory of current Irish literary journals

I first compiled this directory of Irish journals in 2016. Since then some journals have become defunct, and others have sprung up, particularly during the lockdown, so I thought it was time to update it. For writers just beginning to submit work, I recommend trying the newer journals first. Those who have already had work published, you know the ones to go for! But even if you’re a more established writer, it might be good karma to support the new journals too. Besides, some of them might go places.  Comments always welcome.

 

This artwork by Jeanie Tomanek, titled Security, appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Spontaneity. You can view more of her work here.

So, here’s the updated list:

 

Abridged                                                                                                              http://www.abridged.one                                                                                                                        

Beautiful product. And the themed submission calls are irresistible, poems in themselves. This is an online and also a print journal, based in the North (but we’re being inclusive here!) Besides, they’ve taken poems of mine, so they’re right up there in my estimation!

A New Ulster                                                              https://sites.google.com/site/anewulster/new-home-page

The editor, Amos Grieg, hopes that this journal ‘will act as a reflection of the changing times in which we live in and grant you the reader a doorway into other worlds of the imagination.’ The journal appears monthly and has been in publication since September 2012.

Banshee Literary Journal                                                                  https://bansheelit.tumblr.com

A gorgeous journal, Arts Council funded, with three editors who are happening writers themselves: Laura Jane Cassidy, Eimear Ryan and Claire Hennessy. They have taken poems of mine. And they pay! Going places.

Beir Bua Journal                                                                      https://beirbuajournal.wordpress.com

An Irish, inclusive, journal for the  avant-garde; postmodern, asemic, experimental, surrealist, visual poetry, poetry object, & art. Not familiar with this one yet, but curious to check it out.

Boyne Berries                                                                                 http://boyneberries.blogspot.ie/ 

This long-standing journal came out of a writers’ group and has grown legs since, although it appears to have shut up shop since the lockdown.

Burning Bush 2                                                                                  https://issuu.com/burningbush2 

A good reputation, but went underground for a bit. Had work in this. Not sure if it’s still happening, although the website is still online.

Channel

https://channelmag.org

 

This journal of environmentally-themed poetry, prose, and criticism, seeking to channel climate concerns and natural preoccupations into writing. Its third issue was published at the end of 2020 and the team are currently working on issue four.

 

Cold Coffee Stand                                                                  https://coldcoffeestand.wordpress                                      

‘Make it new, wrong, broken and brilliant’ invites this journal, which seems to have been around since 2017, although it’s new to me. ‘Cold Coffee Stand is, and always will be, open to all voices.’ They are ‘dedicated to amplifying work from every facet of Irish culture and society.’ Their submission call is always open, so that’s handy.

Crannóg                                                                                http://www.crannogmagazine.com/  

Established in 2002, and Arts Council funded, Crannóg receive about a thousand submissions for each of their three issues per year. One of the first to publish a poem of mine, so I have a soft spot! And they pay. The editors are Sandra Bunting, Tony O’Dwyer, Ger Burke and Jarlath Fahy, all of whom read each submission.

Crossways Magazine                                                                        https://crosswaysmagazine.com

Crossways is a literary magazine that deals in original poetry, short-fiction, and book reviews. Established in early 2018, its aim is to publish high quality work from authors in Ireland and around the globe. The magazine is available in both print and digital formats. You can email your submissions to: crosswaysmagazine@gmail.com. The editor is David Jordan

Cyphers                                                                                                                 http://www.cyphers.ie/

An esteemed print journal, founded by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and the late Macdara Woods and Leland Bardwell. One to aim for. Glad to have work in this. They pay.

Drawn to the Light                                                              https://drawntothelightpress.com/about/ 

Drawn to the Light Press is a magazine of contemporary poetry edited by Orla Fay. It will be published thrice yearly in October, February and June. The first issue, launched this Valentine month, is aptly enough, all about love. There’s artwork too.

FourXFour                                                                                 http://www.poetryni.com/fourxfour.html

A quarterly online journal of new poetry from Northern Ireland, committed to highlighting the up-and-comings. Edited by Colin Dardis (a busy man! He also edits Panning for Poems, below.)

Gorse                                                                                                                        http://gorse.ie/

Gorse a well-established literary journal interested in experimental fiction and smart writing. It looks for blended fiction, memoir, and history, personal essays, and fiction in translation. Haven’t sent work to this one yet, but looks interesting. Curated by Christodoulos Makris.

Icarus                                                                              http://www.icarusmagazine.com/editorialteam/

Icarus is a student literary and arts magazine based in Trinity College, Dublin. They publish two or three issues per academic year and accept submissions of poetry, prose, drama and visual art from students, staff and alumni of Trinity College. As I’m not an alumna, don’t know this one.

Idler                                                                                                                 http://www.idler.ie

Another one I don’t know. But their website says that ‘Idler brings the very best of short-form writing to mobile device and other online users. Regularly updated stories, poems and essays help make those long waits shorter… Because time is a terrible thing to waste.’

Impossible Archetype                                                  https://impossiblearchetype.wordpress.com/

An international journal of LGBTQ+ poetry edited by Mark Ward, it was founded in January 2017. They publish two issues a year and are accepting submissions until the 1st March. This is one I’m not familiar with.

Irish Pages                                                                                                          http://irishpages.org/

Based in Belfast, this journal promises ‘outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas’. Somewhat dry-looking, it is nevertheless substantial and impressive. The editor is Chris Agee. The journal is in English & As Gaeilge. I noticed that Ruth Padel, Morten Strøkness, John F Deane, Greg Cambridge, Moya Cannon, Greg Delanty, Tisja Kljalović Braić, John Glenday, Meg Bateman, Benjamin Keatinge, Slavenka Drakulić and other interesting names are among others in the current issue.

Mandrake                                                                                      https://www.mandrakejournal.com

Mandrake is a new online Dublin journal featuring the gothic, the supernatural and the weird. They are looking for fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They claim to be ‘concerned with the exploration of philosophical pessimism through gothic and horror narratives.’ Think Edgar Allen Poe, Angela Carter, Baudelaire, Mary Shelley, Beckett, David Lynch, Doestoyevsky,  Shirley Jackson, Emily Brontë. The editor is Eoin Rogers, a  graduate of a Masters in Creative Writing from NUI in Galway, and now based in Dublin. Should be interesting!

Panning for Poems                                                                    http://www.poetryni.com/panning-for-poems.html

A micro-poetry  (poems 3 – 8 lines long) broadside and online journal, edited by Geraldine O’Kane, sub-edited by Colin Dardis, based in the North. Nice to have an outlet for those tiny poems and a source for inspiration, too.

Paper Lanterns                                                                                             https://paperlanternslit.com

Paper Lanterns is a new literary journal, founded in 2020 by Grace Kelley, Amy O’Sullivan and Ruth Ennis. Short stories, flash, art, poetry and features. It got a splash in The Irish Times and on RTE when it was launched, and is Arts Council supported. It aims to promote the voices of young people in Ireland and across the world, and provide new and exciting content for teen and young adult audiences. it has beautiful artwork and is published four times a year. Three issues of Paper Lanterns have been published thus far and there are a lot more to come. Good luck to the editors – they’ve found a niche here.

Poethead                                                                                     https://poethead.wordpress.com/

An excellent poetry blog curated by Christine Murray, who is compiling a valuable and  extensive index of women poets, both Irish and international, contemporary and deceased. Great resource, and influential. So sorry to see that it’s now closed for submissions, but it’ll remain online as an archive. 

Poetry Ireland Review                                                      http://www.poetryireland.ie/writers/submission-to-pir/

The ‘journal of record’ in Irish poetry. You’re on the official literary radar once you’ve managed to get work between these pages. The current editor is Colette Bryce. The latest issue features work from Denise Riley, Kayo Chingonyi, Luke Morgan, Katie Donovan, Nick Laird, and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, among many other excellent poets, as well as Ailbhe Darcy’s perceptive analysis of documentary poetry in performance, focusing on Kimberly Campanello’s MOTHERBABYHOME and a tribute to the much-mourned Eavan Boland. They also have a pamphlet, Trumpet, which is sent to subscribers, where more reviews are featured. They pay contributors.

Riverbed Review                                                                   https://riverbedreview.wordpress.com

Riverbed Review is another new journal sprung from the lockdown. It publishes pieces inspired and informed by the natural world, particularly waterways and rivers. Looking for stories and poetry based around this theme, its current submission window for its second issue is open until March.

Ropes                                                                                            http://www.ropesliteraryjournal.com

This literary journal gets a new lease of life each year as it is passed down to the next generation of students on the MA in Literature and Publishing course at NUI Galway. Publishing poetry, prose, and visual art, Ropes aims to give emerging writers a space to platform their work, while donating its proceeds to a chosen charity; this year’s charity is COPE Galway – what better reason to support it?

Skylight 47                                                                          https://skylight47poetry.wordpress.com/

Their blurb states that they are ‘possibly Ireland’s most interesting publication’. Based in Galway. Current editors: Bernie Crawford, Nicki Griffin, Marie Cadden and Ruth Quinlan. Interesting, broadsheet-style journal. They published a glowing review of my first collection, and also some poems, so I have a crush!

Silver Apples                                                                                                                  https://silver-apples.squarespace.com                                                                                    

This one is new to me, but here’s what the About paragraph says on their website: ‘We publish writing across all genres and mediums. Do you have prose, poetry, or a one-act play? Because we want it. Do you dare to defy genres or mediums? Because we publish those pieces, too.’ They also have a competition, which is currently open for entries.

Sonder Magazine                                                                                                https://sonderlit.com

Love their blurb: “The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” Here’s what they say about the magazine: ‘We publish short stories, flash fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry, all based around the individual and how we interact with each other. We want you, the writer, to get into the mind of someone sitting across from you on the Dart home, or the fella who just asked to bum a lighter, or even the Aisling wearing runners to work. Submission guidelines are in the Submissions tab. Have a gander. Slide into our DM’s. See you on the flipside.’ Already smitten!

Southword                                                                      https://southword.submittable.com/submit

The Munster version of Poetry Ireland Review, Southword is a print literary journal that publishes new international writing. Southword has published the work of Medbh McGuckian, Helen Ivory, Haruki Murakami, James Lasdun, Kim Addonizio, Tess Gallagher, Colm Tóibín and Vona Groarke, among other acclaimed poets and writers. The 2021 spring issue features prizewinning and shortlisted entries from the Gregory O’Donoghue and Seán O’Faoláin competitions, both organised by The Munster Literature Centre, as well as specially commissioned work. Submissions of poetry and short fiction (for the autumn issue) are open as follows: POETRY: December 1st, 2020 ‒ February 28th, 2021. FICTION: January 1st ‒ March 31st, 202. Although no longer an online journal, the online archives are still available: https://munsterlit.ie/Southword/issues_index.html

Splonk                                                                                                                           https://splonk.ie/about/

Founded in May 2019, Splonk is an online flash fiction journal dreamed up by a group of flash writers in Ireland. The word ‘splonk’ is the anglicised form of the Irish word ‘splanc’: noun fem. flash, spark. A splaincín (derived from splanc) is a spirited, fiery female. The editor is the award-winning author and poet, Nuala O’Connor. I’m including it here because the micro fictions here are pure poetry. Go for this one.

Spontaneity                                                                                                     http://spontaneity.org

‘Where everything connects’ – a beautiful online journal, curated by Ruth McKee, specialises in ekphrastic responses to visual art. The forthcoming issue (see illustration above) will be in response to the separation of families at the US border. Artists and writers from Ireland and around the world contribute their words and pictures to the magazine by responding to an image or words from the previous issue. I’ve had work in this journal and love both the premise and the product.

SurVision                                                                                                  http://survisionmagazine.com

This is an independent international online magazine founded in March 2017 and based in Dublin, Ireland. Edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, SurVision publishes neo-surrealist poetry and comes out in January and July. The deadlines for these issues are 31st December and 30th June. Submissions of not more than five poems are considered at any time. SurVision have now begun publishing surrealist chapbooks too. they’ve published my chapbook, Invisible Insane and also work of mine in an anthology of surrealist poetry called Seeds of Gravity.

The Bangor Literary Journal                                                              https://thebangorliteraryjournal.com

Another new NI journal, this one is currently on its thirteenth issue. They’re interested in photography, flash fiction and poetry, and welcome hybrid / experimental work. They also have several competitions. Check them out.

The Bohemyth                                                                                              http://thebohemyth.com/

Based in Dublin, editor is Michael Naghten Shanks. I don’t know much about this one yet, but it’s a quarterly online journal, publishing poetry, fiction, photography, essays. I think it’s on hiatus during the lockdown.

The Dublin Review                                                                                 https://thedublinreview.com/

The Irish Times called this ‘a world-class forum for the literary essay.’ A quarterly magazine of  fiction and non-fiction: essays, memoir, travel writing, criticism. Founded and edited by Brendan Barrington, it is highly regarded. Published in book format and assisted by The Arts Council of Ireland. Although they don’t accept poetry, I couldn’t not include them here.

The Galway Review                                                                                http://thegalwayreview.com/

‘Committed to excellence in the extraordinary art of the written word.’ Not familiar with this journal, but as it’s based in my the city of my birth, must check it out! A number of editors. I do wish they’d jazz up the look of their website though.

The Haibun Journal                                                                                https://thehaibunjournal.blog

The Haibun Journal, launched in Ireland April 2019, is a print journal specialising in the haibun literary form. The journal appears in April and October each year. The editors are: Sean O’Connor, Amanda Bell, Kim Richardson and Paul Bregazzi. Just had my first haibun accepted by them and looking forward to seeing the journal.

The Irish Literary Review                                                   http://irishliteraryreview.com/index.html

This journal, edited by former BBC journalist and Oxford Creative Writing Masters graduate Catherine Higgins-Moore, features poetry, fiction and interviews and keeps an archive of interviews. Clean. Classy. Currently closed for submissions, but I’m going to keep an eye on this one. 

The Irish Times                                                                        http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/poetry

Always worth submitting to this one if you’re unpublished. It’s a big deal to get selected for publication in New Irish Writing at the The Irish Times, as it means you’re in with a chance to be shortlisted for the coveted Hennessy awards. (I was a Hennessy winner, and trust me, there’s nothing like it.) You can email your entry to hennessynewirishwriting@irishtimes.com or post it (with a stamped addressed envelope) to Ciaran Carty, Hennessy New Irish Writing, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2. Submissions are open to unpublished writers who are Irish or resident in Ireland. All accepted stories will be printed in the Irish Times, as well as being considered for the Hennessy Literary Awards, with prizes of €1500 and €2500, as well as a trophy. And even if you are published, you can submit for the Poem of the Week. They pay contributors.

The Liminal Review                                                                                 https://www.liminalreview.com

Another new one! The Liminal Review is a literature and arts journal that is looking for the things that are made in the in-between spaces. The Liminal Review was founded in December 2020 by Alix Berber and Shauna Smullen. ‘Two queer artists looking to carve out a new space for marginalised voices in Ireland and beyond. The project emerged from a curiosity for the concept of liminal spaces, transition and temporality.’ They’re open to fiction, short prose, reviews, poetry, creative nonfiction, marginalia, and illustrations. 

The Moth Magazine                                                                                        http://themothmagazine.com/

This is a print magazine, associated with the renowned Moth Poetry Prize (one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem) and includes artwork. Slim, but classy. Considered one of the most beautiful and tasteful journals around. Another one to aspire to. Glad I’ve had work published here.

The Ogham Stone                                                                            https://theoghamstoneul.com/

This is a literary journal run by the Masters students of English and Creative Writing at the University of Limerick, featuring poetry, art and fiction. I noticed Mary O’Malley’s and Sinéad Morrissey’s names on the masthead.

The Penny Dreadful   
http://thepennydreadful.org/

‘The Penny Dreadful,’ claim the team, ‘is the highest brow compendium of literature since bald men invented widow’s peaks and we all decided to go along with it.’ Steered by Marc O’Connell, edited by Cethan Leahy and Róisin Kelly. Here’s more of their blurb: ‘So you have managed to navigate the highway that is the byway of the internet and found yourself washed up on the shores of The Penny Dreadful. “The what?” you ask in a simian like fashion, scratching your forehead with your knuckles. Wait here while we fetch you a banana.’ Based in the rebel county of Cork, what more can I say? They accepted my review of Kimberly Campanello’s collection, because, well, it was Kimberly! Two poetry submission rejections though (ouch).

The Pickled Body                                                                              http://thepickledbody.com/

A clean, aesthetic online poetry and art magazine ‘that plays with the senses.’ Each themed issue presents work from the surreal to the sensual and points in between – ‘poems that not only sound as good as they look, but taste as good as they feel.’ I concur. The editors are Dimitra Xidous and Patrick Chapman. Submissions are currently closed, but that could be a lockdown thing.

The Poetry Bus                                             http://thepoetrybusmag.wix.com/change#!submissions/cgyc

‘Curating the world artfully, inclusively, fairly.’ claims the journal. Published by Peadar and Collette O’Donoghue. They’ve also published a ‘grimoire’ by Fiona Bolger, and may do more.        I had work published both in print and on the CD that accompanied the substantial journal. And they nominated my poem for the Forward Prize! 

The Stinging Fly                                                                                                               http://www.stingingfly.org/

Founded by Aoife Kavanagh and Declan Meade in 1997, this is one of the most rated journals in Ireland today. Arts Council funded. The Stinging Fly publishes English and Irish poetry and also fiction. The journal has published new work by a number of acclaimed writers such as Simon Armitage, Kevin Barry, Emma Donoghue, Claire Keegan, Toby Litt, Colum McCann, Medbh McGuckian, Paula Meehan, Sinéad Morrissey, Paul Murray, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Sharon Olds, Keith Ridgway and C.K. Stead. Hard to get into – took me four attempts! But I’ve had work accepted a few times now, and each time, it’s a thrill. The English poetry editor is Eabhan Ní Shuilleabháin. There are also contributing / guest editors such as Sally Rooney, Mia Gallagher, Thomas Morris, Cal Doyle, Danny Denton. They are now publishing books as Stinging Fly Press and have published about twelve award-winning books and anthologies. And they pay contributors.

The Tangerine                                                                                    https://thetangerinemagazine.com/

The Tangerine is a new Belfast-based magazine of new writing. It covers culture and politics, and is published three times a year. ‘We want to read work that challenges and excites us,’ they say.The print journal includes features, reportage, commentary, fiction, poetry, illustration and photography. Submissions are currently closed, but Issue 9 (100 pages) is available to buy online. 

The Waxed Lemon                                                                       https://twitter.com/TheWaxedLemon

Love the name! Based in Wexford and launched in Autumn of last year, The Waxed Lemon is an independent journal looking to publish poetry, short stories, flash fiction, photography, and art. Keep an eye on their Twitter page (above) for information about their upcoming submissions window.

The Well Review                                                                                                                 http://www.thewellreview.com/

The Well Review (TWR) was founded in 2016 by Cork native, Sarah Byrne with the support of Christian Carley, Mary-Jane Holmes and Niall Murphy. It was established ‘to create a space to house exceptional poetry from all over the world,’ says Sarah Byrne. ‘I, along with most of my Irish poet friends, very much miss The SHOp, edited by John and Hilary Wakeman, who have retired. I’m hoping that The Well Review will be the journal to compensate for that loss.’ The inaugural issue featured work by international poets such as John Burnside, Maram al-Masri, Ellen Bass, Ishion Hutchinson, Kaveh Akbar, Nick Laird, Matthew Dickman and Maggie Smith. They offer online courses too and have begun a printing press. Arts Council funded. Still trying to get into this one. The journal is published in February and September. And they pay. 

The Quarryman                                                            https://www.facebook.com/quarrymanjournal

This is a literary journal, associated with University College Cork. Originally started in 1920, this journal was revived by the 2015 MA creative writing students, and the first, substantial issue  sold out. Submissions are accepted, via their Facebook page, only for those affiliated with UCC, including alumnae. Email them at quarrymansubmissions@gmail.com

Tír na nÓg                                                                                                       https://tirnanoglit.com

This is a new publication for prose and poetry by writers native or local to Galway that engage in an international dialogue. Its first issue can be found online while submissions for its second issue will open soon.

TwoMeter Review                                                                       https://beauwilliamspoet.com/2mr/

TwoMeter Review is edited by a Dublin-based American, Beau Williams. Here’s what he says: ‘We are a working-class, grassroots magazine motivated by connection and the elevation of Irish and American voices. We believe poetry is powerful, expressive, poignant, and necessary.’ Submissions for poetry and photography for the second edition are now open. It will be published digitally with physical copies for sale. 

Winter Papers                                                                                   https://www.winterpapers.com

Self-described as ‘a fine cut of a book’, Winter Papers one of Ireland’s foremost arts anthologies, containing fiction, non-fiction, interviews, and in-conversation pieces. It has been described by The Irish Times as ‘a treasure trove of soul fuelled with deep roots in Irish soil’ and was picked as an Irish art book of the year by the Sunday Times. Edited by Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith, its sixth edition was published at the end of last year.

 

                                                                 ****

If I’ve left any journals out, please add them, with a link, in the comments below. Thanks. Happy reading and submitting, and please subscribe and support the journals where you can. Where would we be without them?

My father moved through dooms of love by e.e. cummings

My father moved through dooms of love by e.e. cummings

My  father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height

this motionless forgetful where
turned at his glance to shining here;
that if(so timid air is firm)
under his eyes would stir and squirm

newly as from unburied which
floats the first who, his april touch
drove sleeping selves to swarm their fates
woke dreamers to their ghostly roots

and should some why completely weep
my father’s fingers brought her sleep:
vainly no smallest voice might cry
for he could feel the mountains grow

Lifting the valleys of the sea
my father moved through griefs of joy;
praising a forehead called the moon
singing desire into begin

joy was his song and joy so pure
a heart of star by him could steer
and pure so now and now so yes
the wrists of twilight would rejoice

keen as midsummer’s keen beyond
conceiving mind of sun will stand
so strictly(over utmost him
so hugely)stood my father’s dream

his flesh was flesh his blood was blood:
no hungry man but wished him food;
no cripple wouldn’t creep one mile
uphill to only see him smile

Scorning the Pomp of must and shall
my father moved through dooms of feel;
his anger was as right as rain
his pity was as green as grain

Septembering arms of year extend
Yes humbly wealth to foe and friend
Than he to foolish and to wise
Offered immeasurable is

Proudly and (by octobering flame
Beckoned) as earth will downward climb
So naked for immortal work
His shoulders marched against the dark

His sorrow was as true as bread:
No liar looked him in the head;
If every friend became his foe
He’d laugh and build a world with snow

My father moved through theys of we
Singing each new leaf out of each tree
(and every child was sure that spring
Danced when she heard my father sing)

Then let men kill which cannot share
Let blood and flesh be mud and mire
Scheming imagine, passion willed
Freedom a drug that’s bought and sold

Giving to steal and cruel kind
A heart to fear, to doubt a mind
To differ a disease of same
Conform the pinnacle of am

Though dull were all we taste as bright
Bitter all utterly things sweet
Maggoty minus and dumb death
All we inherit, all bequeath

And nothing quite so least as truth
–i say though hate were why men breathe–
Because my Father lived his soul
Love is the whole and more than all.

Got this from Genius. To learn more about the poem, check out their site: https://genius.com/E-e-cummings-my-father-moved-through-dooms-of-love-annotated

Home by Warsan Shire

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well

your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.

no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied

no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough

the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off

or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important

no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here

In honour of Bloomsday…

Yes

(after Molly Bloom in James Joyce’s Ulysses)
 

…yes and then
I touched my finger to his lips
to stroke away the cider,
and put it to mine
and our tongues went plunging
– such a lush sweetness –
the grass so springy-soft on the cliff
and the waves crashing below
and I had to catch my breath
and the night’s perfume drowned
that tang of lamb
and I thought of my first kiss
– what was his name? Johnny? – yes,
his tongue so unexpected,
wriggling like an eel,
but this time it felt different,
and even his silence didn’t matter
when he stared, stared at my breasts
and I let my hair slip loose
like that Cape Town girl,
and you have moonlight in your eyes, he said
so I took him in my hand
and he whispered, would I,
ma petite phalène, he said
and I thought I may as well,
as well him as another,
and the sea was swirling below us in a froth
the sky gorgeous with stars
and I suggested with my eyes
that he ask again
and I knew he would
and I wondered if I’d say yes
and then I urged him down
and he found his way
through all my layers
and I might, I thought, yes
I think I will
say yes.
  
Yes is © Afric McGlinchey.
First appeared in The Lucky Star Of Hidden Things, published by Salmon (2012). Subsequently published in Poethead.

Image shows Muireann Kelly performing as Molly Bloom in a production of Liberate Ulysses.

Forthcoming readings (so far)

The craic is always good at Irish festivals and events…I’ve been invited to be a guest reader at these:

(Photo taken by Linda Ibbotson)

30^th June       – Spotlight Poetry reading, Alchemy Café, Barrack St. Cork 7pm.  

Delighted to be appearing as guest reader  at Cork’s own Alchemy Café as part of the Spotlight Poetry Reading series.  Also featuring is Mags Creedon with her instruments and beautiful voice.  Plus there’s an open mic! It all kicks of at 7.30.pm.

Alchemy Café is a special word-friendly venue, so if you’re Cork-based it’s definitely the place to hang out.

 16^th July         – Itaca magazine launch, 16th July 2016 at 6pm, Cassidy’s                                            Hotel, Cavendish Suite, Dublin

 

17^th July         – Stanzas Festival, Limerick city,  2.00pm at the Bubble Tea Paradise                           café, reading with Michael Ray and Emma Langford

 

 

18th July       – Hosting a poetry event with Jo Shapcott, Sarah Howe and Theo Dorgan at the Maritime Hotel, 6.30pm.

19^th July         – Reading at West Cork Literary Festival, arguably one of Ireland’s best literary festivals, in beautiful Bantry, with Cónal Creedon and  William Wall, Maritime Hotel, 2.30pm.

 

30^th July         – in conversation with Liz Nugent at the Ludgate Hub, Ireland’s first digital café, at 2pm, during the colourful Skibbereen Arts Festival

30^th July         –   WAS poetry marathon at Working Artists Studios, Skibbereen

 

 19 – 22^nd Aug    – Five Glens Festival, ManorHamilton, Leitrim, reading and workshop

 

 28^th Sept         –Toner’s famous traditional Pub, Baggot St.,  Dublin

 

17th October       – Taking part in a showcase reading at the Troubadour, London

 

 4 Nov                 –Allingham Festival, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, for a reading and workshop

And I thought it would get quiet once my kids had left home…!

 

Scribblers, Higgins and Teen Camp

Wow, the time flies. One of the highlights of the last couple of weeks was visiting Alison Glennie’s drama group, and doing poetry with them. Of course, first they had to warm up by making letter shapes together. Then down to the hard work:

We’ve almost reached the end of the Scribblers course– only one workshop to go, when we’ll be working on the cover of our magazine, to be printed in time for Michael D’s visit on the 11th June. A lot of excitement about that. So many poems and stories for me to type up this week!

One of my young writers surprised me with this poem last Friday.I think she captured me perfectly! Have to share it with you:

I’ll have a couple of weeks to respond to new work at Uillinn, and to work on my collection, as well as continuing the one-to-one editing surgeries. Anyone interested in that can phone me on 086 3633567 to book an appointment.

Then it’ll be on to the Teen Camp taster, from the 8th-10th July, which will end my residency. As well as a little poetry, we’ll be doing fiction. I’m hoping for teenagers (aged from 13-18, although so far those booking are around 16) who are serious about writing.

TEEN CAMP brochure

And I’m not sure if that will open! But you can call me on 086 3633567 for details or to book.