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Best of Irish Poetry 2010
Editor: Matthew Sweeney

Songs of Earth and Light
Barbara Korun poems translated by Theo Dorgan

Done Dating DJs
by Jennifer Minniti-Shippey
Winner, 2008 Fool for Poetry Competition

Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes

Munster Literature Centre

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DAVE LORDAN

Dave Lordan was born in Derby, England, in 1975, and grew up in Clonakilty in West Cork. In 2004 he was awarded an Arts Council bursary and in 2005 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award for Poetry. His collections are The Boy in the Ring (Cliffs of Moher, Salmon Poetry, 2007), which won the Strong Award for best first collection by an Irish writer and was shortlisted for the Irish Times poetry prize; and Invitation to a Sacrifice (Salmon Poetry, 2010). Eigse Riada theatre company produced his first play, Jo Bangles, at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in 2010. He has lived in Holland, Greece and Italy, and now resides in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

Invitation to a Sacrifice

There’s a woman stumbling in a field of snow.

Crying out

Crying out

Crying out...

Her two hands clutch

a wound above

her left breast

Tears burn holes.

Spots of blood

leave a trail

in the snow.

Somewhere behind her

in the growling whiteness

whiteness that scours the eyes

like salt

there are dogs.

Behind the dogs there are drunk men

telling jokes and prophesying

about what they each

are going to do with her

when,

eventually,

they catch up with her

keeling over

with the mirth

of drunken teammates

in the snow

then up again and

whistling.

Behind the drunk men whistling

there is only the darkness offscreen,

vast and unanswering.

Or whatever you want to call it.

If you could relieve this woman now,

If you could perforate the veil

between

stretch a giant hand

and withdraw her from this picture

would you?

You would?

And then what would you do with her?

©2010 Dave Lordan

Author Links

Lordan page at Salmon Publishing

Three poems by Lordan at Blackmail Press

Entry at Irish Writers Online