Naas writer's poetry book is launched in English and Swedish

Naas native and poet Derek Coyle has just launched his second poetry collection, Sipping Martinis under Mount Leinster, in a dual language edition in English and Swedish.

The Swedish translations are by poet Peter Nyberg Mollung. As the title poem suggests, much of the collection is firmly rooted in Coyle’s vision of County Carlow, where he now resides, and its surrounds.

As Coyle tells us, “James Joyce taught us that the universal can be found in the particular. His vision of Dublin in Ulysses captures all cities, all humans, all places.

“I hope my vision of Carlow as it emerges in my work has something of this about it. That folk in rural Sweden, or rural Wales, and even the cosmopolitan capitals of the world, will recognise something of their town, their village, their place, in the vision of Carlow that I present here.”

Even as the poems are rooted in the locales of County Carlow, they roam far and wide and wild, with references to many authors, artists, and musicians, living and dead. Indeed, in the title poem many distinguished artistic luminaries turn up to sip martinis at a party that is something of a folk legend by now in the foothills of Mount Leinster.

American poets, James Tate, Frank O’Hara, James Schuyler, rub shoulders with Irish poets like Medbh McGuckian, the German surrealist painter Franz Marc, and classical composer Ludwig Van Beethoven who, as it happens, is playing ‘The Irish Rover’ on fiddle to entertain the guests.

As such, this poem stands as a very original homage to the poet’s influences. Many poems deal with the recent Covid pandemic, particularly its impact on domestic relationships.

Another poem ‘The Manueline Style’ references earlier pandemics, cholera and dysentery, in its consideration of the historical court of King Manuel of Portugal.

But this is not to say that the collection’s tone is in any way one of doom and gloom, or always covertly political. The collection contains many upbeat and amusing reflections on such ordinary everyday experiences as observing dandelions (in ‘Dandelion’) and hesitating to mow them due to their dazzling beautiful gold.

‘The Boss’ offers a witty and insightful encounter with Bruce Springsteen in an obscure B&B in Mayo, where over an Irish breakfast, some understanding is given as to the inspiration for Springsteen’s classic song ‘The River’.

As Coyle has remarked: ‘One of my favourite quotes about poetry is from the American poet William Carlos Williams, and it is: ‘if it ain’t a pleasure, it ain’t a poem.’ These poems were certainly a pleasure to write. I hope something of the joy of their discovery comes across to readers of the book. I’d like to see people reflecting, thinking, being moved by the poems — but also having a good laugh. We treat poetry way too seriously. Poets often have a wicked sense of humour.’ At the heart of this collection are many love poems,.

Derek Coyle’s Sipping Martinis under Mount Leinster is lyrical and playful, serious and ambitious, in poems that are original and distinctive, poems that keep us on our toes with their unusual twists and turns, their unpredictable trajectories, and the striking corners of thought they take us to.

You can order the book from Magnus Grehn Förlag at: https://magnusgrehnforlag.se/, or by emailing: mgrehn@hotmail.com.