NWW Issue 9 Spring and Summer 2018

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NORTH WEST WORDS SPRING / SUMMER 2018 ISSUE 9 Editorial Welcome to the Spring/Summer issue of the North West Words magazine. We are delighted to bring you another edition filled with 34 poems and 5 short stories from Ireland and beyond. At the end of 2017, North West Words ran two adult poetry competitions - one in English and one in Irish. This issue proudly presents the shortlisted and winning poems from both of those competitions. Ten English language poems were shortlisted by poet Kate Newmann, with the overall winner announced at our January award night: Noel Connor’s poem “Damaged Tins”. Five Irish language poems were shortlisted by poet and fiction writer Proinsias Mac ’Bhaird, with the overall winner announced at our February award night: Art Ó Súilleabháin’s “Gur fút is breá liom”. Congratulations to all the shortlisted poets, and we hope our readers enjoy, as much as we did, the many voices of our competition poetry. Also featured are editors’ selections from our open submissions of both poetry and fiction, a new review section by Deirdre Hines, and a writing group showcase with the Station House Writers. Images included in this issue are from Donegal natives, Lorraine Carey (a poet and an artist), and Eamonn Bonner (a poet and photographer). When Emily Dickinson required a symbol for herself, she chose the wren, clover or spider. She was deeply familiar with the biology of such species. Much of her worldview was formed in her backyard garden. We are told that human beings are homophilous, that they tend to associate and bond with similar others. Homophily is posited over and over again in politics and religion and in much of our media as a type of justification for the impossibility of two diametrically opposed sides to ever come to a real and respectful understanding of each other. And then we have poets. And the best of our prose writers. Human beings who seem only too willing to enter into the reality of another, to embrace it, to become it, to write about it, and to offer it to the world at large as proof that we are amorphous beings, that we can and do walk in as many different forms as are extant on the world surface, and maybe even beyond that. The writers in this edition of North West Words Magazine all eschew homophily as a modus operandi. Ali Znaidi's says 'No-one questions the seduction of corners' in “That Magic Within”. Attracta Fahy enters the throat of the thrush in “Philemos” and Sharon Thompson's central character communes with the creatures in the shadows in her short story “The Healer”. Writers forage for those truths that hide behind the ostensible meaning of words. Language belongs to the people and with poems like “A Secret” by Michael, Kate Ennals' “What Word Would You Choose To Be?”, and Leo Vanderpot's “Note Left On A Librarian's Desk”. Language belongs to the people and the writers in this section do just that. Much writing takes place after deep reflection. Paul Moore's short story “The Librarian” counters and subverts much of the homophily surrounding sectarian divide in the North. Just as importantly his main characters counter the populist protagonist and think just to think. 4
NORTH WEST WORDS SPRING / SUMMER 2018 ISSUE 9 “Hugh found it odd that when Bentham wasn't working out how to control people, he created the felicific (“happiness-making”) calculus. The calculus claimed to quantify the intensity, duration, likelihood and extent of pleasures and pains through an exponential equation.” We particularly love Beethoven's “Ode to Joy”. One of the mysteries of Art is paradox. Can joy spring from death? Does reading a poem in your native language bring peace even if you do not remember the meaning of the words? Can translations and free variations of poems dating back to 844 reinvent those poems and reinvigorate them? The answer lies in the affirmative. Byron Beynon's “Roots”, Réaltán Ní Leannáin's “Áit”, Sean Golden's “Leland at Cloonagh”, and Miriam Nic Lochlainn's “Redemption” create a solidity by juxtaposing different keys and unexpected notes. Just like Beethoven. This edition sees the beginning of our Review Section. Kate Garrett's “You've never seen a doomsday like it” published by Indigo Dreams Publishing is reviewed by Deirdre Hines. The magazine closes with a selection of poems and one memoir piece from some of the members of Station House Writers. The eclectic form of Guy Stephenson's “Flicker” makes the reader pause and consider. Annemarie Gallagher's “What If Winter” redefines the tradition of fantastical, and Michael Forde's memoir piece “Cuban Crisis” is exemplary. His persona poem “I, Corrib” reinvigorates poetry of place. Joe Lynch's “ Avoiding Clichés” cleverly uses cliché to question and redefine cliché, bringing us back to where we started. Homophily and the power of good writing to counter all that is the worst in us. Enjoy. Nick Griffiths, Deirdre Hines and Deirdre McClay Copyright remains with the author, artist, photographer for all work in North West Words 5
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NWW Issue 9 Spring and Summer 2018

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