The Cotard Dimension. Macdara Woods. Dedalus Press, poetry from Ireland and the world

By Macdara Woods

The Cotard Dimension

In this 11th collection of his poetry, Macdara Woods brings his hallmark qualities of energy and alertness to the subject of memory, its revelations, transports and deceptions.

€10.50

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Description

In this 11th collection of his poetry, 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”. His poetic world is full too of present realities, of immediacy, his characteristic, photographic fidelity to the moment and to all the elements which chance unites in a scene, to the flash of colour and light. The wit and humanity of his Clare Island series enable him to catch the instant when we see the ancient and contemporary bound up in each other. And in poems that deal with the poet’s 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”.

Shortlisted for The Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2012

“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

ISBN 9781906614430 Paperback
140 x 216 mm, 90 pp
May 2011

Product Detail

  • ISBN: : 9781906614430 Paperback
  • Size: : 215 x 140 mm
  • Pages: : 90 pp
  • Published: : May 2011

About The Author

Author

Macdara Woods was born in Dublin 1942. One of the senior figures in contemporary Irish poetry, he published his first collection Decimal D. Sec. Drinks In A Bar In Marrakesh with New Writers’ Press in 1970) while his second, Early Morning Matins, was published by The Gallery Press in 1973. Since then he has published many collections, and a number of selections with the Dedalus Press, including Stopping The Lights In Ranelagh (1987), Miz Moon (1988), The Hanged Man Was Not Surrendering (1990), Notes From The Countries Of Blood-Red Flowers (1994), Selected Poems (1996), Knowledge In The Blood: New and Selected Poems (2000), The Nightingale Water (2001), Artichoke Wine (2006), The Cotard Dimension (2011), Collected Poems (2012) and Music From the Big Tent (2016). His books in Italian include: Biglietto di Sola Andata (Moby Dick Editrice Faenza 1998) and Con Pesaro ai Miei Piedi (Volumnia Editrice Perugia, 1999). He translated The King of The Dead and other Libyan Tales by Redwan Abushwesha, with the author and Orla Woods Abushwesha (Martin Brian and O’Keefe, London, 1978). He was a co-founder and co-editor of Cyphers, the long-running literary journal, since 1975. He also edited The Kilkenny Anthology (Kilkenny Co Council, 1991) and Present Tense: Words and Pictures, with Jim Vaughan (Mayo Co Council, 2006). His Clare Island Sequence was commissioned for and included in 'this time, this place' (Mayo Co Council, 2007). Macdara Woods was a member of Aosdána. He died in June 2018.

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