In this eleventh collection of his poetry, Irish poet Macdara Woods brings his hallmark qualities of energy and alertness to the subject of memory, its revelations, transports and deceptions. The Cotard Dimension unflinchingly faces 'the distorting glass / In the bathroom mirror' and discovers that 'memory is where I am / One-fingered memory / Poking round among the ruins'. And yet, in poems that deal with the slow recovery after an accident, he records the renewal of 'the
wild olive that we thought was dead', and produces a volume of poetry that, despite our troubled times, celebrates 'fresh growth new bone'.
"This is language raised, like prayer and other holy forms, to be instructive, healing, memorable and accurate. In the performance of these duties, Macdara Woods is among the most trustworthy, his voice among the most engaging, his contribution among the permanent."
Thomas Lynch
Macdara Woods was born in Dublin in 1942 and has published a number of collections with Dedalus Press, including his Selected Poems (1996) and The Nightingale Water and Knowledge in the Blood (2002). His work has been translated widely, into some twelve languages, and has been set to music and perfomed by artists such as Anuna and Bonita Hill. A member of Aosdána, he is also one of the founder editors of the long-running literary journal Cyphers, along with poets Pearse Hutchinson, Leland Bardwell, and his wife the poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.
wild olive that we thought was dead', and produces a volume of poetry that, despite our troubled times, celebrates 'fresh growth new bone'.
"This is language raised, like prayer and other holy forms, to be instructive, healing, memorable and accurate. In the performance of these duties, Macdara Woods is among the most trustworthy, his voice among the most engaging, his contribution among the permanent."
Thomas Lynch
Macdara Woods was born in Dublin in 1942 and has published a number of collections with Dedalus Press, including his Selected Poems (1996) and The Nightingale Water and Knowledge in the Blood (2002). His work has been translated widely, into some twelve languages, and has been set to music and perfomed by artists such as Anuna and Bonita Hill. A member of Aosdána, he is also one of the founder editors of the long-running literary journal Cyphers, along with poets Pearse Hutchinson, Leland Bardwell, and his wife the poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.