Contents
PATRICK KAVANAGH 1904-1967
Inniskeen Road: July Evening 21
To the Man after the Harrow 21
from Tarry Flynn 22
Shancoduff 24
Peace 24
Pursuit of an Ideal 25
The Great Hunger 26
Pegasus 55
Temptation in Harvest 57
Bluebells for Love 60
Advent 62
A Christmas Childhood 63
Memory of my. Father 65
The Long Garden 66
Art McCooey 67
Spraying the Potatoes 69
Memory of Brother Michael 70
Innocence 71
Prelude 72
Kerr's Ass 75
Epic 76
The Hospital 76
Come Dance with Kitty Stobling 77
In Memory of my Mother 78
LOUIS MACNEICE 1907-1963
River in Spate 81
Sunday Morning 82
Train to Dublin 83
Snow 85
Eclogue between the Motherless 86
Valediction 93
Carrickfergus 97
The Brandy Glass 99
from Autumn Journal 99
Cushendun, from The Closing Album 104
Meeting Point 105
Novelettes III: The Gardener 106
Flight of the Heart 110
Autobiography 111
Prayer before Birth 112
Epitaph for Liberal Poets 114
Under the Mountain 115
Woods 116
Elegy for Minor Poets 118
Slow Movement 120
from Autumn Sequel 121
from A Hand of Snapshots 127
Nature Notes 129
Reflections 131
Hold-up 132
The Truisms 132
The Blasphemies 133
Bad Dream 136
Soap Suds 138
The Suicide 139
The Taxis 140
Charon 141
The Introduction 142
Tree Party 142
Coda 144
THOMAS KINSELLA 1928-
In the Ringwood 147
Another September 149
Baggot Street Deserta 150
Love 153
Song 154
Downstream 155
Mirror in February 158
Wormwood 159
Ballydavid Pier 160
Leaf-eater 162
Ancestor 162
Touching the River 163
His Father's Hands 164
Tao and Unfitness at Inistiogue on the River Nore 168
JOHN MONTAGUE 1929-2016
Soliloquy on a Southern Strand 175
The Water Carrier 177
The Trout 178
A Drink of Milk 179
Tim 181
Like Dolmens round my Childhood,
the Old People 182
A Welcoming Party 184
All Legendary Obstacles 186
11 rue Da guerre 187
A Bright Day 188
The Road's End 189
Return 192
Clear the Way 193
The Country Fiddler 194
The Cage 195
Coming Events 197
Last Journey 197
Penal Rock: Altamuskin 199
Mad Sweeny 199
Windharp 201
Tracks 201
Herbert Street Revisited 203
Sunset 206
The Silver Flask 206
MICHAEL LONGLEY 1939-
Leaving Inishmore 211
No Continuing City 212
Persephone 214
In Memoriam 215
Wounds 217
Letter to Derek Mahon 218
Letter to Seamus Heaney 220
Skara Brae 222
Swans Mating 223
Caravan 223
The Lodger 224
Fleance 225
Man Lying on a Wall 226
The Linen Workers 227
Second Sight 228
The Third Light 229
SEAMUS HEANEY 1939-
Follower 233
The Diviner 234
Personal Helicon 234
The Forge 235
Thatcher 236
The Peninsula 237
Requiem for the Croppies 238
Night Drive 238
The Given Note 239
The Plantation 240
Bogland 242
The Other Side 243
The Tollund Man 246
Summer Home 248
Mossbawn: Two Poems in Dedication 250
1. Sunlight 250
2. The Seed Cutters 251
A Drink of Water 252
A Postcard from North Antrim 253
The Otter 255
The Skunk 257
A Dream of Jealousy 258
Field Work 258
The Harvest Bow 261
In Memoriam Francis Ledwidge 262
Sloe Gin 264
The Birthplace 265
Changes 267
A Hazel Stick for Catherine Ann 269
Widgeon 270
from Station Island 271
DEREK MAHON 1941-2020
Glengormley 277
The Poets of the Nineties 278
In Carrowdore Churchyard 279
The Spring Vacation 280
Grandfather 281
My Wicked Uncle 282
An Unborn Child 283
The Studio 285
Lives 286
Poem Beginning with a Line by Cavafy 289
Father-in-Law 290
Homage to Malcolm Lowry 291
The Snow Party 291
The Last of the Fire Kings 293
Nostalgias 295
The Mute Phenomena 295
A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford 296
Autobiographies 298
Courtyards in Delft 301
Tractatus 302
A Lighthouse in Maine 303
A Garage in Co. Cork 305
PAUL DURCAN 1944-
Letter to Ben, 1972 311
They Say the Butterfly is the Hardest Stroke 312
November 1967 313
General Vallancey's Waltz 313
Ireland 1972 314
Combe Florey 315
Nessa 316
In Memory of Those Murdered in the Dublin
Massacre, May 1974 317
The Kilfenora Teaboy 318
Ireland 1977 319
Making Love outside Aras an Uachtarain 320
Micheal Mac Liammoir 321
Sally 323
TOM PAULIN 1949-
States 327
Settlers 328
Thinking of Iceland 328
From 331
Inishkeel Parish Church 332
Cadaver Politic 333
The Hyperboreans 334
Ballywaire 336
Newness 337
Arthur 337
Personal Column 340
Song for February 341
Still Century 342
Anastasia McLaughlin 343
Where Art is a Midwife 345
The Other Voice 346
Desertmartin 353
Descendancy 354
The Book of Juniper 355
Politik 363
Off the Back of a Lorry 364
A Rum Cove, a Stout Cove 365
A Written Answer 366
Manichean Geography I 367
Of Difference Does it Make 368
And Where Do You Stand on the National
Question? 368
MEDBH McGUCKIAN 1950-
Smoke 373
Tobacco Hole 373
June 374
Gateposts 374
The Cure 375
Tulips 376
Mr McGregor's Garden 377
The Sofa 378
Slips 379
To my Grandmother 380
The Seed-Picture 380
Champagne 382
The Flower Master 382
The Standing 383
The Moon Pond 384
The Aphrodisiac 385
Power-Cut 386
The Flitting 387
On not being your Lover 388
Aviary 389
The Hard Summer 390
Venus and the Rain 391
Felicia's Cafe 392
Biographical Notes on Contributors 393
Index of Titles 395
Index of First Lines 403
Acknowledgements 411