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Life is a Dream

40 Years Reading Poems 1967-2007

Harvill Seeker Contents

Foreword xix Acknowledgements xx

ENDSVILLE (1967) The White Window 3

O WESTPORT IN THE LIGHT OF ASIA MINOR (1975) Nessa 7 Gate 8 8 On a BEA Trident Jet 9 Hymn to Nessa 9 Le Bal 10 O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor 10 Phoenix Park Vespers 12 In the Springtime of Her Life My Love Cut Off Her Hair 13 The Daughters Singing to Their Father 14 The Nun's Bath 14 Combe Florey 15 Please Stay in the Family, Clovis 15 Black Sister 16 November 30, 1967 17 They Say the Butterfly is the Hardest Stroke 17 La Terre des Hommes 18 Aughawall Graveyard 18 1972 18 The Girl with the Keys to Pearse's Cottage 18 Dun Chaoin 19 The Day of the Starter 20 The Limerickman that Went to the Bad 20 The Night They Murdered Boyle Somerville 21 Tribute to a Reporter in , 1974 22 Letter to Ben, 1972 23

vii TERESA'S BAR (1976)

The Difficulty that is Marriage 27 She Mends an Ancient Wireless 27 Two in a Boat 28 Anna Swanton 28 Wife Who Smashed Television Gets Jail 29 Teresa's Bar 3O Polycarp 32 Lord Mayo 33 The Drover's Path Murder 34 Before the Celtic Yoke 35 What is a Protestant, Daddy? 36 The Weeping Headstones of the Isaac Becketts 37 In Memory of Those Murdered in the Massacre, May 1974 38 Mr Newspapers 39 The Baker 40 The Archbishop Dreams of the Harlot of Rathkeale 40 The Friary Golf Club 41 The Hat Factory 42 The Crown of Widowhood 45 Protestant Old Folks' Coach Tour of the Ring of Kerry 45 Goodbye Tipperary 46 The Kilfenora Teaboy 47

SAM'S CROSS (1978) Birth of a Coachman 51 The Brother 52 Fermoy Calling Moscow 52 Memoirs of a Fallen Blackbird 53 The Lovely Old Pair of Kilmallock 54 The Pregnant.Proprietress of the Fish and Chipper 54 Parents 55 She Transforms the Ruins into a Winter Palace 55 Micheal Mac Liammoir 56 Lament for Cearbhall 6 Dalaigh 57 The Butterfly Collector of Cofofin 59 The Death of Constance Purfield 60 The Head Transplant 61

vm Poetry, a Natural Thing 62 The Bus Driver 63 Playing Croquet with Fionnuala on the Alpine Lawn 63 Backside to the Wind 64 Going Home to Mayo, Winter, 1949 66 Fat Molly ' 67 Making Love Outside Aras an Uachtarain 68 The County Engineer 69 The Ballet Dancer 70 Sister Agnes Writes to Her Beloved Mother 70 Ireland 1977 71 Irish Hierarchy Bans Colour Photography 71 The Married Man Who Fell in Love with a Semi-State Body 73 Two History Professors Found Guilty of Murder 74 In Memory: The Miami Showband — Massacred 31 July 1975 75 National Day of Mourning for Twelve Protestants 76 Margaret Thatcher Joins IRA 77

JESUS, BREAK HIS FALL (1980) Spitting the Pips Out — with the College Lecturer in Philosophy 81 The Hole, Spring, 1980 82 Little Old Ladies Also Can Write Poems Such as This Poem Written in Widow's Blood in a Rented Top-Storey Room in Downtown 83 The Death by Heroin of Sid Vicious 84 The Boy Who Was Conceived in the Leithreas 85 The Drimoleague Blues 86 The Anatomy of Divorce by Joe Commonwealth 87 That Propeller I Left in Bilbao 87 On Buying a New Pair of Chains for Her Husband 89 The Man Whose Name Was Tom-and-Ann 89 Tullynoe: Tete-a-Tete in the Parish Priest's Parlour 90 En Famille, 1979 91 Madman 91 Sally 91 The Daughter Finds Her Father Dead 91 This Week the Court is Sleeping in Loughrea 93 Charlie's Mother 94

ix For My Lord Tennyson I Shall Lay Down My Life 95 Hopping Round Knock Shrine in the Falling Rain, 1958 96 Mr Goldsmith, My Father's Friend 97

JUMPING THE TRAIN TRACKS WITH ANGELA (1983) The Woman Who Keeps Her Breasts in the Back Garden 101 Interview for a Job 101 Going Home to Meet Sylvia 102 Papua, New Guinea 103 Michelangelo Road 104 Old Lady, Middle Parish 104 The Rose of Blackpool 106 The Night They Put John Lennon Down 108 The Crucifixion Circus, Good Friday, Paris, 1981 109

THE BERLIN WALL CAFE (1985)

The Haulier's Wife Meets Jesus on the Road Near Moone 117 10.30 a.m. Mass, 16 June 1985 121 High-Speed Car Wash 123 The Day Kerry Became Dublin 124 The Man with Five Penises 124 Bewley's Oriental Cafe, Westmoreland Street 125 The National Gallery Restaurant 126 Man Smoking a Cigarette in the Barcelona Metro 127 Concert at Slane, 1984 128 The Cabinet Table 129 The Feast of St Brigid, Friday the First of February 1985 130

Hymn to a Broken Marriage 132 "Windfall", 8 Parnell Hill, Cork 132 The Jewish Bride 136 Around the Corner from Francis Bacon 137 Raymond of the Rooftops 139 The Pieta's Over 140 Wives May Be Coveted But Not by Their Husbands 141 The Turkish Carpet . 142 The Berlin Wall Cafe 142 The Marriage Contract 144 At the Funeral of the Marriage 145 On Falling in Love with a Salesman in a Shoe Shop 146 The Vision of St Hubert 147

GOING HOME TO RUSSIA (1987) The Rape of Europa 151 The Poetry Reading Last Night in the Royal Hibernian Hotel 152 Cardinal Dies of Heart Attack in Dublin Brothel 154 What Shall I Wear, Darling, to The Great Hunger? 154 The Late Mr Charles Lynch Digresses 155 The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1986 156 The Divorce Referendum, Ireland, 1986 157 El Flight 106: New York-Dublin 158 A Vision of Africa on the Coast of Kerry 160 Martha's Wall 160 Doris Fashions 161 The Hay-Carrier 162 Six Nuns Die in Convent Inferno 163

The Beckett at the Gate 168

Peredelkino: at the Grave of Pasternak 175 Diarrhoea Attack at Party Headquarters in Leningrad 178 The Red Arrow 179 Bringing Home the Watermelon from Samarkand 180 Zina in Murmansk 181 Estonian Farewell, 1983 182 The Return of Solzhenitsyn 183 The Fairy Tale of 1937 183 Trauma Junction 185 Hymn to My Father 185 The Woman with the Keys to Stalin's House 186 Going Home to Russia 187 John Field's Dressing Gown with Onion Domes and Spires 191 xi John Field Visits His Seventy-Eight-Year-Old Widowed Mother 194

DADDY, DADDY (1990)

The Centre of the Universe 197 Felicity in Turin 199 Ho Chi Minh 199 The Deep Supermarket, Next Door to Ajay's 200 Tullamore Poetry Recital 202 Member of the European Parliament 203 Putney Garage 204 's Fiftieth Birthday 206 The Death of the Ayatollah Khomeini 207 Loosestrife in Ballyferriter 210 The Sign of Peace 212 Lord United Ireland, Christmas 1989 213 Paul 215 The Christies Foxhunters Chase over Three Miles and Two Furlongs 216 Hommage a Cezanne 217 Self-Portrait, Nude with Steering Wheel 218 Phyllis Goldberg 219 The Dream of Life 221 Reading Primo Levi by the Family Fireside at Evening 221

Nights in the Gardens of Clare 223

The One-Armed Crucifixion 231 Study of a Figure in a Landscape, 1952 231 Fjord 233 The Persian Gulf 233 Crinkle, Near Birr 235 Life-Saving 237 Ulysses 238 Sport 241 Apartheid 242

xii Stellar Manipulator 243 Bare Feet 245 The Mayo Accent 247 Dovecote 247 Micky Donnelly's Hat 249 Antwerp, 1984 250 The Two Little Boys at the Back of the Bus 252 Poem Not Beginning with a Line by Pindar 254 Geronimo 255 "The Dream in the Peasant's Bent Shoulders" 259 Cot 260 Glocca Morra 261 Mortuary 263 Bank Clerk 265 Kierkegaard's Morning Walk in Copenhagen 268 Chips 269 The Repentant Peter 270 Our Father 271

CRAZY ABOUT WOMEN (1991) The Virgin and Child 277 The Separation of the Apostles 278 The Holy Family with St John 280 The Veneration of the Eucharist 281 The Levite and His Concubine at Gibeah 283 The Riding School 285 The Dilettanti 286 Bishop Robert Clayton and His Wife Katherine 287 Joseph Leeson 289 The Earl of Bellamont 289 Mrs Congreve with Her Children 291 Marguerite in Church , 292 Boy Eating Cherries 293 Man Walking the Stairs 293 Draughts 297 In the Tram 298 Flower Girl, Dublin 300 Grief 302

xin A SNAIL IN MY PRIME (1993) My Beloved Compares Herself to a Pint of Stout 307 A Spin in the Rain with Seamus Heaney 308 Faith Healer 310 The Toll Bridge 313 My Daughter Siabhra in Moscow, 19 August 1991 317 Father's Day, 21 June 1992 318 A Cold Wind Blew in from Lake Geneva 320 A Snail in My Prime 322

GIVE ME YOUR HAND (1994) The Adoration of the Kings 327 The Presentation in the Temple 33l The Arnolfini Marriage 333 The Death of Actaeon 334 Samson and Delilah I 336 Cardinal Richelieu 337 The Rokeby Venus 338 Mr and Mrs Andrews 339 Exhibition of a Rhinoceros in Venice 340 The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly 341 General Sir Banastre Tarleton 343 A Cornfield with Cypresses 344 Portrait of Greta Moll 346 Leisure 348 The Mantelpiece 349

A GOOSE IN THE FROST (1995) A Goose in the Frost 353

CHRISTMAS DAY (1996) from Christmas Day 359

GREETINGS TO OUR FRIENDS IN BRAZIL (1999) Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil 367 Recife Children's Project, 10 June 1995 375 Self-Portrait '95 376

xiv The Last Shuttle to Rio 376 Samambaia 378 The Geography of Elizabeth Bishop 379 The Daring Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze 380 Jack Lynch 382 The Chicago Waterstone's 383 Remote Control 386 Dirty Day 388 Island Musician Going Home 388 Thistles 389 October Break (Lovers) 392 Man Circling His Woman's Sundial 393 The Only Isaiah Berlin of the Western World 396 Karamazov in Ringsend 398 Notes Towards a Necessary Suicide 399 Paddy Dwyer 400 Cissy Young's 403 Tea-Drinking with the Gods 404 Ashplant, New Year's Eve, 1996 406 We Believe in Hurling 406 Surely My God is Kavanagh 409 On First Hearing News of 411 Waterloo Road 412 Patrick Kavanagh at Tarry Flynn, the Abbey Theatre, 1967 414 The King of Cats 416 The Stoning of Francis Stuart 417 Dancing with 424 At the Funeral Mass in Tang and the Burial Afterwards in Shrule of Dr Hugh M. Drummond 427 Mother in April 429 The Bloomsday Murders, 16 June 1997 43° Rainy Day Doorway, Poyntzpass, 6 March 1998 431 North and South 43 !• Politics 432 56 Ken Saro-Wiwa Park 434 Mohangi's Island 436 Travel Anguish 437

Omagh 439 xv Real Inishowen Girl 447 Meeting the President, 31 August 1995 448 The Years 452

CRIES OF AN IRISH CAVEMAN (2001) Give Him Bondi 457

On Giving a Poetry Recital to an Empty Hall 472 Auntie Gerry's Favourite Married Nephew Seamus 472 Homage to Tracey Emin 473 Donal 474 The 24,000 Islands of Stockholm 478 The Bunnacurry Scurry 479 New Year's Eve, 1999 482 Charles Brady's Irish Painter 484 Murphy's Farewell 484 The Death of the Mother of the Dalai Lama 485 Night-Elegy for Therese Cronin 486 In Memoriam Sister Mary Magdalena, Martyr (1910-99) 487

Early Christian Ireland Wedding Cry 489

Cries of an Irish Caveman 492 The Lamb in the Oven 497 Torn in Two 497 My Bride of Aherlow 498 Bovinity 499

THE ART OF LIFE (2004) The Man with a Bit of Jizz in Him 503 xvi Golden Island Shopping Centre 504 A Robin in Autumn Chatting at Dawn 505 The Far Side of the Island 506 Achill 507 Ireland 2002 508 HEADLINES 508 The Celtic Tiger 509 Asylum Seeker 511 The Westport Ethiopian 512 The Beautiful Game 513 The Wisdom of Ex-Wives The 2003 World Snooker Championship , the Poet King 516 The 12 O'Clock Mass, Roundstone, County Galway, 28 July 2002 516 Rosie Joyce 518

The Art of Life 522 Aldeburgh October Storm 523 The Old Man and the Conference 525 Tarnowo Podgorne 526 A Poet in Poland • 527 Raftery in Tokyo 528 On the Road to the Airport, Northern Hokkaido 529 Checkout Girl . • 529 Facing Extinction 530

THE LAUGHTER OF MOTHERS (2007) The Story of Ireland 533 Mrs Barrington-Stuart's Version of What Happened 534 In the Shopping Spree on the Last Sunday before Christmas 534 Death on Strand Road 536 Lecarrow Harbour 538 Achill Island Girl 540 A View of the Bridge 541 The Waterford Relays - 542 Little Girl Watering on the Sands 542 At the Grave of My Aunt Sara Mary, Turlough, 543

xvii Kneeling at the Last Wave 546 Badgers 546 Women of Athens 548 Greek Woman of High Standing 549 Epistemology 550 The Moment of Return 550 Walking with Professor Dillon in the Old Agora in Athens 551

Par for the Course 554 The MacBride Dynasty 555 Major John MacBride's Early Morning Breakfast 556 Treasure Island 556 Philadelphia, Here I Come 558 The Wrong Box 560 The Gallows Tree 561 Daughters of the Civil War 562 Little Old Lady 563 Golden Mothers Driving West 564 My Mother's Secret 565

Notes 567 Glossary of Irish Words and Phrases 569 Index of Titles 571 Index of First Lines 579

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