Carcanet's commitment to publishing work in translation has been matched by an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America.
One day, China met China in the marketplace.
'How are you, China?' asked China, 'we haven't talked in so long.'
China answered: 'The things we have to say to one another,
laid end to end, and side to side,
would connect the Great Wall with the Three Gorges Valley
and stretch nine miles up towards the sun.'
'It's true,' replied China. 'We have a lot to catch up on.'
from 'China'
POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION
WINNER OF THE 2005 MICHAEL HARTNETT POETRY AWARD
SHORT-LISTED FOR THE T.S. ELIOT POETRY PRIZE
In her third book of poems, Sinéad Morrissey builds on the achievement of her award-winning collection, Between Here and There, by expanding the lyric into new territories and admitting new voices. The theme of imprisonment is variously addressed: in the actual prisons of eighteenth-century Europe; in the prison of our own limited perceptions of experience, particularly of other cultures when abroad; in the prison of the mortal human body itself.
Alongside the intimate interiors of human relationships, the poems are also interested in broader discourses, particularly history, and range in scope from the Royalist convictions of a woman wearing a Scold's Bridle during England's interregnum, to the story of the number zero. Form and content, as well as the personal and the political, are blended throughout this collection with imagination and consummate skill. As in her previous two books, travel remains a source of inspiration: one exhilarating poem details, in nine 'chapters', a six-thousand-mile train journey across China in which the conflicting faces of a rapidly changing country jostle for space. The collection ends with a compelling act of ventriloquism, as Morrissey recounts, in the first person, the life and works of the great prison reformer John Howard, and details his vision for the moral regeneration of the corrupted human soul.
'A book of splendours.' - Fiona Sampson, the Irish Times.
Awards won by Sinead Morrissey:, Poetry Book Society Choice for Through the Square Window (2009) Winner of UK National Poetry Competition for the poem 'Through the Square Window' (2007) Winner of a Lannan Literary Fellowship (2007) Poetry Book Society Recommendation for The State of the Prisons (2005) Shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Commonwealth Literature Prize for The State of the Prisons (2005) Shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Prize for The State of the Prisons (2005) Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for The State of the Prisons (2005) Joint winner of the Michael Hartnett Award for Poetry for The State of the Prisons (2005) Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for Between Here and There (2002). MaCaulay Fellowship (2002) Rupert and Eithne Strong Award for Between Here and There (2002). An Eric Gregory Award for There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996) Patrick Kavanagh Award for Poetry (1990)
Title Information:
Categories: 21st Century, Irish, Women Imprint: Carcanet Poetry ISBN-10: 1 857547 75 6 ISBN-13: 978 1 857547 75 7 Edition: 1st Format: Paperback Published: April 2005 Dimensions: 216x135x5mm Pages: 63pp Publisher: Carcanet Press RRP: GBP£ 8.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP£ 0.89 Price: GBP£ 8.05 Status: Available
Table of Contents
Flight
The Second Lesson of the Anatomists
Forty Lengths
Genetics
Pilots
Lullaby
Contrail
Little House in the Big Woods
Juist
China
The Gobi from Air
Polar
On Omitting the Word 'Just' from my Vocabulary
Advice
Reading the Greats
In Praise of Salt
The Wound Man
Clocks
Aunt Sarah's Cupboards and Drawers
Absences Also
Icarus
Forgiveness
Driving Alone on a Snowy Evening
Migraine
The Yellow Emperor's Classic
Zero
Stepfather
The State of the Prisons
Notes
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