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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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ALYN FENN

Alyn Fenn has been writing since 2005. She has had poems published in The SHOp poetry magazine, The Stinging Fly, Acumen, Stony Thursday, and Borderlines. She has won a number of short story competitions including the People’s College 2006-07 Short Story Competition, Wicklow Writers 2007, and the 2007 William Trevor Short Story competition. She has placed in other competitions including the Bill Naughton, Golden Pen, George A. Birmingham, Pencil, and People’s College, and been shortlisted for several others including the Bryan McMahon, Wells Literary Competition, and Momaya.

Poem Beginning With a Line From Sylvia Plath

Come here, Sweetie, out of the closet,

It’s long past sunset you see,

Time to lock up the Chinese geese

To roost for the night.

Latch tight their coop door

Against foxes.

Mommy’s gone so

I’ll need you to help me

Hold the flashlight. Look, I’ve got your

Slippers here to keep your feet warm.

Afterwards, we’ll fix hot chocolate the way

You like it, frothed up

With marshmallows on top.

We’ll build up the fire to roast

Our toes. We’ll tell each other

Stories about ghosts and goblins

And giants that don’t exist.

But first, we must

Lock the geese up safely. So, please,

Come here, sweetie, out of the closet.

©2011 Alyn Fenn

Author Links

'Don't Left Me': prize-winning Fenn story at Wicklow Writers

Fenn's Southern Hospitality in Southword Journal 17

Article about Fenn's prize with the People's College Short Story Competition