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A SONG FOR MY FATHER
Poems by Desmond Egan
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Desmond Egan has published 8 other collections of poetry and has appeared in dual-language presentations in French, Dutch, Irish, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. He was awarded the National Poetry Foundation of U.S.A. Award in 1983 – when the president, Caroll F. Terrell, described him as ‘the finest Irish poet since Patrick Kavanagh’ – and the Chicago Haymarket Literary Award of 1987.
From international reviews of Desmond Egan’s poetry:
‘Hospitable in a new ay to the literary traditions of Europe and America – in a way no English poet is.’
Hugh Kenner, U.S.A.
‘A muscular and moving poet: a writer who inspires instantly.’
Sipho Sepamla, South Africa
‘Egan is in the forefront of contemporary poetry.’
Leif Sjoberg, Sweden
‘I find these poems very stimulating, beautiful. They have a rich, dark,
mysterious warmth.’
Guiseppe Serpillo, Italy
‘. . . a very fine achievement.’
Granta, Great Britain
‘Along with Heaney, Montague and Mahon, Egan is on the cutting edge of contemporary Irish (as well as international) poetry.’
Kevin McEneaney, U.S.A.
‘Like Yeats, Egan writes books rather than individual poems . . .’
Peter van de Kamp, The Netherlands
‘A remarkable poet.’
Patrick Rafroidi, France
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Hiroshima
Hiroshima your shadow burns
into the granite of history
preserves for us pilgrims
a wide serious space
where one may weep in silence
I carry in my mind
a glass bullet lodged deep
the memory of that epicentre where
one hundred thousand souls
fused at an instant
and the picture of a soldier
tenderly offering a cup of water
to a burnt child who cannot respond
the delicate paper cranes
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A SONG FOR MY FATHER
Price £7.95 per copy post free (£5.30 post free to Associate Members)
Cover illustration: John McCormack by Charles Cullen (1984)
Publication: OCTOBER 1989 (64 pages laminated paperback)
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