By Mark Roper

Bindweed

From meditations on the glimpsed and the fleeting — presences so small they “slip through cracks in the day” — to ruminations on some of the most pressing concerns of our time, the poems in Mark Roper’s new collection play a series of variations on how we perceive and try to connect with the ‘more-than-human’ world. There are poems addressed to familiar companions such as the moon, or a shadow (“your dark matter / neither life nor soul”); poems that stem from travels abroad; and poems that respond to the miniature worlds, and larger implications, of exhibits in a number of museums.

Description

From meditations on the glimpsed and the fleeting — presences so small they “slip through cracks in the day” — to ruminations on some of the most pressing concerns of our time, the poems in Mark Roper’s new collection play a series of variations on how we perceive and try to connect with the ‘more-than-human’ world. There are poems addressed to familiar companions such as the moon, or a shadow (“your dark matter / neither life nor soul”); poems that stem from travels abroad; and poems that respond to the miniature worlds, and larger implications, of exhibits in a number of museums.

Throughout, Roper’s keynote alertness and subtlety of language frame and mirror his subject matter with consummate skill, allowing the reader to see, hear and sense the vital presences far beyond the margins of the page.

The second half of the book addresses a serious accident in the mountains, and its long aftermath — for which the poet’s startling attention to detail and commitment to his art and craft provides both cure and consolation.

“This book contains so many perfect lyrics as to make any writer jealous”
– John Killick in The North, writing on Even So: New and Selected Poems


Moon

Battered companion,
your face a map of hurt
no tear consoles.

Closest friend,
it would be so much harder
without you.

You come and go,
punchdrunk,
proud of your scars.

Always ready
for one more round,
wanting the night

never to end.
Golden bowl,
no matter how broken.

Product Detail

  • ISBN: : 9781910251249
  • Size: : 140 x 216 mm
  • Pages: : 80
  • Published: : October 2017

About The Author

Author

MARK ROPER was born in Derbyshire, England in 1951. He moved to Ireland in 1980. His collections include The Hen Ark (Peterloo, 1990), which won the 1992 Aldeburgh Prize for best first collection, Catching The Light (Peterloo, 1997) and The Home Fire (Abbey Press, 1998). Reviewing the latter for The Irish Literary Supplement, Bill Tinley described Roper as "one of the most accomplished and engaging poets writing in Ireland at present". Whereabouts was published in 2005 by Abbey Press & Peterloo and Even So: New & Selected Poems was published by Dedalus Press in 2008. His latest collection, Bindweed, (Dedalus Press, 2017), has received excellent reviews and was shortlisted for The Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2018. A Gather of Shadow, Dedalus 2012, was also shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award and won the Michael Hartnett Award in 2014. The River Book: A Celebration of the Suir, a collaboration with photographer Paddy Dwan, was published in 2010. The pair have since published 2 further collaborations, The Backstrand (2013), and Comeragh (2018). They are currently at work on a book about the County Waterford coastline. The Invader, an opera composed by Eric Sweeney to a libretto by Mark Roper, was premièred in Ireland in May 2014. A second opera from the pair, The Green One, received its première in October 2016. Mark Roper has also worked on many other collaborative ventures, including projects with photographer Margaret O’Brien-Moran, painter Susan Hughes and choreographer Libby Seward. Mark was Editor of Poetry Ireland Review for 1999. He was the recipient of Arts Council Bursaries in 2010, 2013 and 2016. A highly experienced Creative Writing teacher, Mark has run courses and workshops in many different settings, including schools, prisons, and senior citizen centres. From September 2002 to May 2003 he was writer-in-residence at Waterford Regional Hospital. Website: http://www.mark-roper.com/