*****

The Translations of Seamus Heaney, Faber & Faber, 2022, £30.00 hardback.  ISBN: 9780571342525. Reviewed by Sam Milne

This volume collects all the translations of Seamus Heaney. It comprises one hundred and one texts from fourteen languages, an extensive and very useful Introduction by the editor Marco Sonzogni, an extensive Commentary (arranged by decade) providing information on the source texts, a publication history of the translations, and an account of each poem’s background. Heaney’s model throughout, we are informed, was Robert Lowell’s Imitations (and he began translating at the outset of his poetic career, continuing right to the end) and Heaney’s achievement I think is equal to that of Derek Mahon’s Adaptations, a volume also influenced by Lowell (see my review of Adaptations in the March 1, 2023 issue of The High Window). The volume is synoptic, providing a window into Heaney’s personal poetic preferences.

Any…

Bio: Jerome Berglund has many haiku, senryu and tanka exhibited and forthcoming online and in print, most recently in the Asahi Shimbun, Bottle Rockets, Fevers of the Mind, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku. His first full-length collections of poetry Bathtub Poems and Funny Pages were just released by Setu and Meat For Tea Press.

https://flowersunmedia.wixsite.com/jbphotography/post/haiku-senryu-and-haiga-publications

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 Brüt
         
pong-pong tree
that bit of space
left to expand when freezes

slicing scallions
kids move not an inch:
avalanche area

Out-of-control semi
weaving back and forth...
Chariot spikes!

not suggesting 
you take lithium…
needle keeps poking me

tooth fairy
lifts pillow…
expungements

Four Stars bird meets wind — equally matched… flaps furiously, moves not an inch break fast on carrots again, by the quarry planted too early grows up too fast, while trusting – flowers becoming cold can’t write way out of a collapsed coal mine…

Today the blog goes international with a drop-in by David Estringel from Texas to talk about a poem from his shortly-to-be-published new collection, Blind Turns in the Kitchen Sink (Anxiety Press).

Black Flies skim the surface of the screen door— deathly spirits in timeless dance— among rusty catches and long-forgotten captures of smears and smiles, looking for a tear to let the world rush in (in whispers and screams) like credos of newborns’ philosophies. No, they don’t bother me much those errant twings and twangs that pull my eyes away from the magnetic hum of hard plastic fruit, ripening on Frigidaire doors, and the bloody meat of strawberry slices, souring in a bowl of milk, under the frosted glow of my 60-watt suns Is it the creak of floorboards under wooden legs (or bones) that heralds their come to call, circling like a wreath, at my kitchen door? Or is…

Bio: Ian Mullins ships out from Liverpool, England.

The music-themed poetry collection Laughter In The Shape Of A Guitar (UB) struck few chords in 2015. The chapbook Almost Human (Original Plus), concerning his ongoing battle with Asperger Syndrome, was released into the care of the community in 2017. The novel Number 1 Red, a tale of pro-wrestling and property wars, was self-published the same year. The superhero-themed collection Masks and Shadows (Wordcatcher) took to the skies in 2019. Take A Deep Breath (Dempsey & Windle) took its first gasp in November 2020. The haiku and photo collection White Masques (Secret House) came out in 2022 on his own label and is available free online. Dirty Sweet (Anxiety Press) was released in 2023.

Each To His Own

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers live/If I Were A King sometimes men make love to each other without swapping spit or semen: one…

Come Possess Me in the Rain

The conduits all say that I invented myth And magic all in one breath. There is a mist in the cold air On a Greenwich Village Halloween night I cannot feel the electricity Only the forceful druids, and the chanting wish of death They hold me up and say Come Possess me in the rain Licks the cold steel to my skull Possess me, with me Real and muted by the shame In an execution style parade What is the impression of a concrete stain? They are practicing Shakespeare They are faux Warholas and Bohemians in sunglasses Without a notion of care And I’m in this shadow that you feel at the River Cold to the touch, blood like paste The arrows kill the stars in the nuclear waste In the air, decaying the ground Now I’m expected to love all As I’m pierced…

EMC Bio:Elizabeth M. Castillois a British-Mauritian poet, writer, indie-press promoter, and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Paris with her family and two cats, where she writes a variety of different things, in a variety of different languages, and under a variety of pen names. In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race & ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, loss and grief, and a touch of magical realism.

Her writing has been featured in publications and anthologies in the UK, US, Australia, Mexico and the Middle East. Her bilingual, debut collection “Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras” is for sale on Amazon, You can connect with her on Twitter, IG and TikTok as @EMCWritesPoetry, or on her website www.elizabethmcastillo.net.

Book purchase link: https://ninepens.co.uk/shop 

Book Blurb :

‘Not Quite an Ocean’