Carcanet Press - Carrying the Songs

Description
Excerpt
Author
Contents
Reviews

A word does not head out alone.
It is carried about the way something essential,
a blade, say, or a bowl,
is brought from here to there when there is work to be done.
Sometimes, after a long journey,
it is pressed into a different service.

from 'Timbre'

Carrying the Songs explores what is lost to time and change, and what endures and is transformed: languages and landscapes, artefacts and songs, carried through a lifetime, across oceans, across centuries. A long-forgotten Gaelic word surfaces from childhood and is reanimated by use; a tiny Stone Age carving speaks across millennia of a shared human impulse to create. At the heart of this collection is migration, the rhythm that draws together the natural and the human worlds. Luminous and precise, Moya Cannon's poetry resonates like remembered songs.

Included with the new poems in Carrying the Songs is a generous selection of the poems from Moya Cannon's much-praised earlier collections, Oar and The Parchment Boat.

Contents

I

Winter Birds   13

Carrying the Songs 14

Timbre 15

Our Words 16

First Poetry 17

Forgetting Tulips 18

Augers 19

Demolition 20

Oughterard Lemons 21

Golden Lane    22

Indigo 23

Rún     24

Starlings 26

Bright City    27

Stranger 28

Walking out to Island Eddy    29

Sheep at Night in the InaghValley 30

Weaning 31

Whin    32

Barbari 33

II

To Colmcille Returning 37

Going for Milk    38

Script 40

Shells 41

Survivors 42

Breastbone 43

Exuberance 44

Banny   45

Orientation 46

Aubade 47

Pollen 48

Vogelherd Horse, 30,000 BC 49

Chauvet 50

The Force 51

Lamped 52

fromOar

Eagles’ Rock    55

Holy Well 56

Thirst in the Burren 57

Oar     58

Thalassa 59

‘Taom’ 60

Tree Stump 61

Turf Boats 62

Prodigal 63

No Sense in Talking 64

Hills   66

The Foot of Muckish 67

Listening Clay    68

Easter 69

Scar    70

Eros    71

Afterlove 72

Narrow Gatherings 73

Dark Spring 75

Wet Doves 76

Nest    77

Crow’s Nest    78

After the Burial 79

Sympathetic Vibration 80

Foundations       81

Votive Lamp    82

fromThe ParchmentBoat

Crannóg 85

Shards 86

Introductions     87

Murdering the Language 88

Hunter’s Moon    89

Ontario Drumlin 90

Patched Kayak   91

Oysters 92

Tending 93

Violin 94

Viola d’Amore 95

Arctic Tern    96

Milk    97

Winter Paths   98

Hazelnuts 99

Mountain 100

Scríob 101

Thole-Pin 102

Easter Houses 103

Song in Windsor, Ontario 104

Driving through Light inWest Limerick 105

Attention 107

An Altered Gait   108

Bulbs 109

Night 110

Migrations 111

Between the Jigs and theReels 112

Moya Cannon is an Irish poet with six published collections, the most recent being Donegal Tarantella (Carcanet). The mountains, the shoreline and our primal and enduring responses to the beauty of the endangered earth are the inspiration for many of her poems. Archaeology and geology figure too as gateways to deeper ... read more

Praise for Moya Cannon 'Three decades of poems from one of Ireland's finest contemporary writers. It is assured, consistent and has a quality both ancient and timeless.'

Seán Hewitt, Irish Times Best Books of the Year 2021

'From start to finish the freshness and vitality as well as the accomplished choice of image and expression reveal themselves...This is a super collection.'

Malcolm Carson, The High Window

'Across three decades of work, these poems demonstrate the marked consistency of a poet whose early collections are accomplished and assured, and who knows how to take her time, and how best to use it... This is an essential book for anyone interested in contemporary Irish poetry. If, for Emily Dickinson, a good poem should make one feel as though the top of one's head were taken off, Moya Cannon's have the effect of blowing an ember, of kindling a light, revealing the strange images passed down to us.'

Seán Hewitt, The Irish Times

'Reading these poems is often akin to travelling through time - or being made aware of layers of time before our own'

Robyn Bolam, The High Window

'The unshowiness of her work, the apparent careful weighing of words, is one of its appealing characteristics: for Cannon this seems not just a question of style but a necessary way in which to be true to her own sense of wonder in the world.'

Gerard Smyth, Dublin Review of Books

'Moya Cannon has a talent for the long shot; whole vistas open up in a handful of words... a master at evoking [time's] mysterious slippery quality... [her] unerring pared back poems express [a] deep knowledge and affection again and again.'

Martina Evans, The Irish Times

'A revelation in its range and depth. These poems are written out of Moya Cannon's enduring preoccupations: with history - especially the history of exile and displacement - with music, language, loss. True to the shifts of real experience, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes ironic, she deploys an understated technique, in a voice that is deliberate, exact and witty. Here are poems, landscapes alive with birds, people and stories, that show us our world, our past and culture through the gift of just, joyful words; they help us to reflect and to live.'
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 'In this new collection, Moya Cannon, through intent attention to light and sound and the natural materials that produce them, touches the very principle of life itself. Hands is a profoundly moving set of meditations on what it means to be alive, physically and emotionally.'
Bernard O'Donoghue

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Carrying the Songs Moya Cannon 10% off eBook (EPUB) Categories: 21st Century, Irish, Women Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE! (Pub. Aug 2011) 9781847778390 £8.95 £8.05 Paperback (126 pages) (Pub. Sep 2007) 9781857549225 Out of Stock To use the EPUB version, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on your device. You can find out more at https://www.adobe.com/uk/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html. Please do not purchase this version if you do not have and are not prepared to install, Adobe Digital Editions. Description Excerpt Author Contents Reviews A word does not head out alone. It is carried about the way something essential, a blade, say, or a bowl, is brought from here to there when there is work to be done. Sometimes, after a long journey, it is pressed into a different service. from 'Timbre' Carrying the Songs explores what is lost to time and change, and what endures and is transformed: languages and landscapes, artefacts and songs, carried through a lifetime, across oceans, across centuries. A long-forgotten Gaelic word surfaces from childhood and is reanimated by use; a tiny Stone Age carving speaks across millennia of a shared human impulse to create. At the heart of this collection is migration, the rhythm that draws together the natural and the human worlds. Luminous and precise, Moya Cannon's poetry resonates like remembered songs. Included with the new poems in Carrying the Songs is a generous selection of the poems from Moya Cannon's much-praised earlier collections, Oar and The Parchment Boat. Contents I Winter Birds 13 Carrying the Songs 14 Timbre 15 Our Words 16 First Poetry 17 Forgetting Tulips 18 Augers 19 Demolition 20 Oughterard Lemons 21 Golden Lane 22 Indigo 23 Rún 24 Starlings 26 Bright City 27 Stranger 28 Walking out to Island Eddy 29 Sheep at Night in the InaghValley 30 Weaning 31 Whin 32 Barbari 33 II To Colmcille Returning 37 Going for Milk 38 Script 40 Shells 41 Survivors 42 Breastbone 43 Exuberance 44 Banny 45 Orientation 46 Aubade 47 Pollen 48 Vogelherd Horse, 30,000 BC 49 Chauvet 50 The Force 51 Lamped 52 fromOar Eagles’ Rock 55 Holy Well 56 Thirst in the Burren 57 Oar 58 Thalassa 59 ‘Taom’ 60 Tree Stump 61 Turf Boats 62 Prodigal 63 No Sense in Talking 64 Hills 66 The Foot of Muckish 67 Listening Clay 68 Easter 69 Scar 70 Eros 71 Afterlove 72 Narrow Gatherings 73 Dark Spring 75 Wet Doves 76 Nest 77 Crow’s Nest 78 After the Burial 79 Sympathetic Vibration 80 Foundations 81 Votive Lamp 82 fromThe ParchmentBoat Crannóg 85 Shards 86 Introductions 87 Murdering the Language 88 Hunter’s Moon 89 Ontario Drumlin 90 Patched Kayak 91 Oysters 92 Tending 93 Violin 94 Viola d’Amore 95 Arctic Tern 96 Milk 97 Winter Paths 98 Hazelnuts 99 Mountain 100 Scríob 101 Thole-Pin 102 Easter Houses 103 Song in Windsor, Ontario 104 Driving through Light inWest Limerick 105 Attention 107 An Altered Gait 108 Bulbs 109 Night 110 Migrations 111 Between the Jigs and theReels 112 Moya Cannon is an Irish poet with six published collections, the most recent being Donegal Tarantella (Carcanet). The mountains, the shoreline and our primal and enduring responses to the beauty of the endangered earth are the inspiration for many of her poems. Archaeology and geology figure too as gateways to deeper ... read more Praise for Moya Cannon 'Three decades of poems from one of Ireland's finest contemporary writers. It is assured, consistent and has a quality both ancient and timeless.' *Seán Hewitt, Irish Times* Best Books of the Year 2021** 'From start to finish the freshness and vitality as well as the accomplished choice of image and expression reveal themselves...This is a super collection.' Malcolm Carson, The High Window 'Across three decades of work, these poems demonstrate the marked consistency of a poet whose early collections are accomplished and assured, and who knows how to take her time, and how best to use it... This is an essential book for anyone interested in contemporary Irish poetry. If, for Emily Dickinson, a good poem should make one feel as though the top of one's head were taken off, Moya Cannon's have the effect of blowing an ember, of kindling a light, revealing the strange images passed down to us.' Seán Hewitt, The Irish Times 'Reading these poems is often akin to travelling through time - or being made aware of layers of time before our own' Robyn Bolam, The High Window 'The unshowiness of her work, the apparent careful weighing of words, is one of its appealing characteristics: for Cannon this seems not just a question of style but a necessary way in which to be true to her own sense of wonder in the world.' Gerard Smyth, Dublin Review of Books 'Moya Cannon has a talent for the long shot; whole vistas open up in a handful of words... a master at evoking [time's] mysterious slippery quality... [her] unerring pared back poems express [a] deep knowledge and affection again and again.' Martina Evans, The Irish Times 'A revelation in its range and depth. These poems are written out of Moya Cannon's enduring preoccupations: with history - especially the history of exile and displacement - with music, language, loss. True to the shifts of real experience, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes ironic, she deploys an understated technique, in a voice that is deliberate, exact and witty. Here are poems, landscapes alive with birds, people and stories, that show us our world, our past and culture through the gift of just, joyful words; they help us to reflect and to live.' Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 'In this new collection, Moya Cannon, through intent attention to light and sound and the natural materials that produce them, touches the very principle of life itself. Hands is a profoundly moving set of meditations on what it means to be alive, physically and emotionally.' Bernard O'Donoghue You might also be interested in: A Perfect V Mary O'Malley	Share this... 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