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New Irish Poetry

Just a snippet of news in the form of my review of Barbara Smith's Kairos and Fred Johnston's The Oracle Room appearing on Eyewear.
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Unknown said…
Hey Ben, I read the review (with great nervousness!) and was interested in your take on Kairos - many thanks. All points of view noted.

How's the MA coming along? I'm finding the one in Belfast is really making me think far more critically about my own work and developing poetry at a much faster pace than I might have on my own bat. Some mighty fine poets up there as well!
7:05 pm
Ben Wilkinson said…
Hi Barbara,

I'm glad you found my review interesting. I did enjoy Kairos, and I hope this comes across in my appraisal of the book. At the end of the day, they're just my humble opinions of course. But I do hope you found my perspective useful.

As for the MA, it's really great to be studying poetry with Maurice Riordan. As you say, I'm finding my poetry seems to be developing quite quickly, and I'm finding it easier to be braver in my approach and not stick so much to the old tried and tested tropes. Always good to try new things. And of course, it's also encouraging to be in a class with so many able, but also stylistically varied and differing writers. Who teaches on your MA?

Oh, and before I forget, glad to hear that copies of Kairos are selling fast :)

best,

B
12:25 pm
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