Where sadness begins / John MacKenna.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacKenna, John, 1952-

Contributor:

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English poetry--Irish authors--21st century.

English poetry.

English poetry--Irish authors.

Ireland--Poetry.

Ireland.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

73 pages : portrait ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland : Salmon Poetry, 2012.

Summary:

In its four sections John MacKenna's collection explores the general and the personal. The opening section ranges geographically and emotionally from the boglands of his native Kildare to Northamptonshire û home of one of his poetic heroes, John Clare. The landscape varies but the poems are peopled with those who live on the periphery, the characters who inhabit his short stories and novels. The second section begins with the deeply personal sequence Brother, a response to the death of his only brother Jarlath in 2005. From this starting point the poems explore loss, failure and doubt in a strikingly honest exploration of his relationships with his parents and his children. The third section is composed entirely of haiku. Finally, the closing section returns to the personal - to the uncertainty and, often, inadequacy of love. Book jacket.

Contents:

1

The Singing Dead 13

Bogwoman 17

An Octet for John Clare 20

She Came Down the Murky Night 23

The Last Day of April 24

Driving to Meet Chris and Paddy Kinsella 25

In the House We Used to Have 26

Sonnet for John Wortley in his Ninetieth Year 27

Goldsmith 28

Midlands 30

Afternoon and Evening Approaching Christmas 33

Beyond the Second Gate 34

Music 35

We Were Boys Then 36

Dead Fox 37

2

Brother 41

Snap 44

A Ghost in the Car 45

Returning from Dances 47

Small Boy 48

Among the Trees 49

Any news? 50

The Railway Yard 51

The Day You Left 52

Dunnock 53

3

Haiku Calendar 57

Billboard Haiku 59

Haiku Sequence 60

4

Willow Pattern 63

Next Morning 64

Sometimes 65

Church 66

River 67

Spin the Bottle 68

After My Brother Died... 69

Where Sadness Begins 71.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

ISBN:

1908836113

OCLC:

797981341

Publisher Number:

99953729653