Writing Home Anthology

I've just got a copy of this new anthology from Dedalus Press, selected and edited by Pat Boran  and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, from an open call which drew hundreds of submissions. Contributors hail from all over the world and most now live in Ireland.

I love the sense of unease which surrounds the volume, the awkwardness as regards titles and themes reflected in its frequent use of quotation marks. The subtitle is The 'New Irish' Poets and the blurb on the website says "Poets from the ‘new Irish communities’, the ‘hyphenated Irish’, the Irish of mixed cultural, linguistic or ethnic origins, are all represented"

Pat Boran in his editorial deals with this, saying sensibly "a little unease is not unusual (or entirely useless) at the start of a journey". He deals especially with the general theme of the anthology, 'home'. Those of us who are internal migrants, if that is the correct term, know exactly how complicated the term 'home' can be.

The fifty poets in this anthology are generally polished practitioners and have histories of publication behind them. The wide range of styles and approaches to the general theme makes it a most entertaining read. The poets come from all over the world, some have English as their native language, others are writing in a second language, only a few poems included are translations.

I like the way the anthology is put together. White space is cut down, poems do not have pages to themselves, poems start at the bottom of pages and continue over, all giving the impression of trying to fit in as many as possible. I also like the fact that some poets have one poem while others have more - I think nine is the record - giving the impression that the poem's the thing.

It's difficult to pick out individual poets but I loved the poems by Polina Cosgrove - "the Russian girl with an Irish surname/ Who was a Russian girl with a Jewish surname/ Who was a Russian girl with a Russian surname/ Who once spent nine months in the belly of/ An Armenian girl with a Russian surname". I especially like Polina's use of repetition in "Say Yes" and "My Name Is".

I like the fact that many of the poems are a little less than positive about the new home Ireland. For instance Bogusia Wardein, a frequent visitor to Ireland, who regards Galway as her "literary home" can still be a sharp critic. Her "From the West Coast" is a sad and humourous look at the Irish from the outsider's eye. "People ask me how I am but don't wait for the answer" "After drinking they mark their territories by spewing here and there". "People call towers castles, hills mountains, and greens parks".

Her "I consider My Home Planet" makes comparisons between a perfect place and Ireland: "For fourthly they say what they mean/ For fifthly they mean what they say" though there is more than a hint that this perfection might actually be less interesting.

Art Ó Súilleabháin, a former work colleague of mine, brought up in Boston, is also here with two poems dealing with outsiders. Art mentions being published in our magazine, Boyne Berries, in his bio which is nice. As editor of Boyne Berries I published poems by another contributor Landa Wo, way back in issues 2 and 4.

All in all a most interesting read, well worth a read. More details on the website.