The Seasons of Cullen Church
Bernard O'Donoghue
- Shortlisted
- for
- the
- 2016
- T.
- S.
- Eliot
- Prize,
- this
- new
- collection
- of
- expert
- lyric
- poems
- from
- Whitbread
- Poetry
- Award
- winner
- Bernard
- O'Donoghue
- movingly
- animates
- the
- scenery
- and
- characters
- of
- his
- childhood
- in
- County
- Cork.
- The
- mythologies
- of
- family
- are
- here:
- the
- relative
- who
- maybe
- emigrated
- to
- America
- to
- be
- 'set
- upon
- at
- his
- arrival
- /
- for
- the
- few
- pounds
- sewn
- inside
- his
- coat';
- the
- memory
- of
- 'Barty,
- a
- hopeless
- speller',
- caned
- so
- hard
- he
- dances;
- the
- big
- top
- come
- to
- the
- town
- park;
- the
- stolen
- apples
- raided
- from
- the
- orchard
- near
- the
- old
- school.
- Here
- too
- are
- the
- collective
- myths,
- the
- groundwater
- of
- older
- texts
- -
- Virgil's
- Aeneid,
- the
- Riddles
- of
- the
- Exeter
- Book,
- Dante's
- Purgatorio,
- the
- lives
- of
- the
- ancients
- and
- the
- gods
- -
- all
- of
- which
- in
- O'Donoghue's
- dexterous
- and
- discerning
- care
- reach
- forward
- from
- their
- long-ago
- origins
- to
- echo
- down
- our
- own
- lives.
Many
- of
- these
- poems
- speak
- in
- elegy:
- for
- Connolly's
- Bookshop
- -
- closed
- down
- and
- mourned
- -
- or
- for
- lost
- friends;
- for
- the
- nostalgic
- places
- to
- which
- one
- cannot
- return,
- the
- field-corners
- and
- long
- roads
- of
- the
- deep
- past:
- 'So
- wistful
- is
- the
- recognition
- now
- /
- of
- the
- places
- that
- I
- hardly
- noted'.
The
- stunning
- title
- piece,
- and
- the
- deft
- and
- poignant
- poems
- that
- make
- up
- this
- collection,
- will
- confirm
- O'Donoghue's
- place
- as
- one
- of
- the
- most
- approachable
- and
- agile
- voices
- in
- contemporary
- Irish
- and
- British
- poetry.
'I'm
- fascinated
- by
- O'Donoghue's
- wry
- vision,
- his
- infinitely
- gentle
- manner
- of
- displacing
- our
- more
- predictable
- reactions
- to
- things
- as
- they
- are
- so
- that
- we
- glimpse
- their
- underlying
- tragedy.'
- Tom Paulin
