The New Irish Poets
If you find yourself in Dublin between pubs you could do an awful lot worse than pop into Books Upstairs. They have a fantastic Irish Poetry section, where I was lost in O’Hara-esque quandariness before picking up the terrific anthology The New Irish Poets, edited by my near-namesake Selina Guinness.
It features Irish poets who have published their first volume within the past 10 years, which means the youngest poet is Leanne O’Sullivan (21) and the oldest Fergus Allen (80) - both of whose collections I’ve read and recommend. There are a few other familiar (to me) names in the book, including Colette Bryce, Sinead Morrissey and Kerry Hardie. And I can’t believe Maurice Riordan qualifies, it feels as though he’s been around much longer than a decade.
I started the book on the no. 247 bus to the airport and honest to goodness this is where the book fell open:
Poetry
It’s a bit like looking through the big window
on the top deck of the number 47.I’m watching you and her and all of them,
but through my own reflection.(Nick Laird)
I couldn’t find the anthology on the Books Upstairs website (hence the Amazon link) but there’s plenty more online. And my experience of the shop was first class - I spoke to a fellow called Des who was very friendly and knowledgeable. Give him my regards if you visit the shop.