Dream Endings has won the Michael Marks Pamphlet Award 2012. Chair of Judges Alan Jenkins said: Roisin Tierney's subjects may be the dark ones of human vulnerability and anguish, but the poems in this wonderfully cohesive and well-organized sequence rest on solid and graceful foundations of precision, musicality and wit. A remarkable solo debut from this already much-noticed poet. More info about the award here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Marks_Awards_for_Poetry_Pamphlets
Dream Endings is available from Rack Press, here: http://www.rackpress.blogspot.ie/
Vera
Vera, eighty-something, sprightly yet,
lives with her daughter in her council flat.
She keeps it spick and span - immaculate.
Her short term memory's gone, or going fast,
her grandchildren a blur. She loves them all,
but cannot place a face. Her keys are not
where she last laid them, the front door
flies open in the middle of the night.
She knows her husband's dead these twenty years,
that they were happy, but can't say what he did,
still manages to shop and use the stairs,
takes all her meds and likes to watch TV,
has only one perceptual delusion:
each night she sees a soldier in her room,
standing in the corner, leaning on
his rifle, looking towards her.
She thinks he's real. This does not disturb her.
lives with her daughter in her council flat.
She keeps it spick and span - immaculate.
Her short term memory's gone, or going fast,
her grandchildren a blur. She loves them all,
but cannot place a face. Her keys are not
where she last laid them, the front door
flies open in the middle of the night.
She knows her husband's dead these twenty years,
that they were happy, but can't say what he did,
still manages to shop and use the stairs,
takes all her meds and likes to watch TV,
has only one perceptual delusion:
each night she sees a soldier in her room,
standing in the corner, leaning on
his rifle, looking towards her.
She thinks he's real. This does not disturb her.
Publications (Pamphlets)
Dream Endings, Rack Press
Dream Endings begins with a glimpse of the poet's dying sister and concludes in high style with an unusually exuberant funeral. In between, Roisin Tierney assembles a cast of rare misfits and eccentrics in order to explore the interconnected themes of illness, madness, incest and death. Her vision is at all times tender and non-judgemental, and her language remarkable both for the limpidity of its surface and the depths it allows us to apprehend. £4
The Art Of Wiring, Ondt & Gracehoper
Poems by Simon Barraclough, Isobel Dixon, Luke Heeley, Christopher Reid, Liane Strauss, and Roisin Tierney. £8
Ask For It By Name, Unfold Press
Poems by Simon Barraclough, Olivia Cole, Isobel Dixon, Luke Heeley, Liane Strauss and Roisin Tierney. Design by Lynn Stewart. "A well-stocked anthology of fresh produce from six prize-winning poets. Behind the bottles and the butter you'll find Mussolini cheating on the tennis court and meet the shark from Jaws in a Yorkshire millpond; glimpse the love of woman for orang-utan and make it across the Spanish-Italian border; spy on the hobbies of cowboys and drink deep of the Molotov cocktail of love..." £5/€7,00
Unfold
Poems by Simon Barraclough, Helen Clare, Andrew Dilger, Isobel Dixon and Roisin Tierney. Design by Lynne Stuart. £5
Gobby Deegan’s Riposte, Donut Press
Poems by Edward Barker, Susan Grindley, Valerie Josephs, Barbara Marsh, Graham Mummery, Daljit Nagra, John Stammers, Roisin Tierney, Sinead Wilson.
Prizes
Dream Endings (Rack Press) - Winner- Michael Marks Award 2012
Gothic - joint 2nd prize in the Brendan Kennelly Poetry Competition 2007
Invierno - commended in the Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2007
Trajectory - runner up in Strokestown Poetry Competition 2006
Untitled – longlisted for Bridport Prize 2005
Becoming – 2nd Prize at the Oxfam Literature Festival 2004
Feet - Winner of supplementary prize in the Bridport Prize 2002
Crush -A Special Commendation and runners up prize in the 7th How do I love thee? Open Poetry Competition Jan 2002.
Half Mile Down - shortlisted for the 2001 TLS Poetry Competition
Gothic - joint 2nd prize in the Brendan Kennelly Poetry Competition 2007
Invierno - commended in the Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2007
Trajectory - runner up in Strokestown Poetry Competition 2006
Untitled – longlisted for Bridport Prize 2005
Becoming – 2nd Prize at the Oxfam Literature Festival 2004
Feet - Winner of supplementary prize in the Bridport Prize 2002
Crush -A Special Commendation and runners up prize in the 7th How do I love thee? Open Poetry Competition Jan 2002.
Half Mile Down - shortlisted for the 2001 TLS Poetry Competition
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