With the publication earlier this year of Henry Street Arcade my first book to be completely translated into another language, the book was translated into French by the French poet Yan Kouton and published by Editions du Pont de l'Europe 2021, it really feels that I have reached a watershed. Currently, I have 10 published books behind me now. My first collection The Elm Tree, published by Lapwing in Belfast ( 2014), is not pictured.
Having said that, a number are out of print. Dublin Gothic for example was hand printed by Dean Havard of Kilmog Press in Dunedin in New Zealand ( 2015). There were only 40 copies made, as far as I know. I launched it up in Ardgillan Castle as part of Donkey Shots which was a literary festival celebrating independent poetry publishers in Ireland. I launched The Dark Pool and And Agamemnon Dead on the same day, both of these books were published by mgv2>publishing by the poet and maverick publisher Walter Ruhlmann in France ( 2015). Walter has since closed down mgv2>publishing to the best of my knowledge. Understandably, as he had been running it on his own for over twenty five years, an incredible achievement. So, this means that both The Dark Pool and Divertimento - The Muse is a Dominatrix are also out of print.
The Dark Pool was my first full- length collection, and it is the first volume in what eventually was to become my Dublin Trilogy which also comprises of Dublin Gothic and Henry Street Arcade. The latter work is now the only volume available to purchase, if you are interested in getting a copy just go to the Editions du Pont de l'Europe website or even message me here as I still have a few copies.
It used to bother me that so many of my books are out of print, for example the three books published by Famous Seamus in the UK are also unavailable. That is to say More Micks than Dicks, The Gladstone Readings Anthology and The Dublin Trilogy all published 2017. However, that is no longer the case. With the publication of Henry Street Arcade you can find some of the best writing I ever did, I feel.
I think it was Jacques Derrida who said that all writers pretty much have just one book in them anyway which they endlessly reproduce. I would go along with that theory, pretty much. So, Henry Street Arcade it is then. If, by any chance, you are interested in trying to get copies of some of my other work just go to the Lapwing website. They still have three of my books for sale. Those are The Elm Tree (2014), The Enemy - Transversions from Charles Baudelaire ( 2015) and Sker ( 2016).
As for the future... I am currently working on a new collection Domestic Gods which has been inspired by Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space ( 1958) and the ancient Roman religious belief in household gods. This is a book that I have been thinking about doing for a long time now and lockdown was the perfect opportunity to get started on it. Also, The Eroica Variations which is a book made up of two long poems will be sent out to publishers as will Tripping on the Real, another collection finished during lockdown.
There are other unpublished collections Merrion Square a sequel to Henry Street Arcade with Oscar Wilde as prime mover, this book I dedicated to the American poet David Rigsbee. It is the first time that I have dedicated a book of mine to a fellow poet, that should tell you everything about how I feel about David.
There are probably other collections in my files which could be edited, and of course there is Ideals and Spleen my lengthy bilingual Baudelaire transversion which will eventually become The Crown of Pain as soon as I finish transversing Les Fleurs du Mal in its entirety. This is a life-work, so no hurry there.
Also The Beckett Quartet - that project is finally finished. Bloomsbury, the UK publisher, expressed an initial interest in publishing it but they wanted me to make far too many revisions, basically that would have compromised the whole work. So, I told them what to do with themselves just as I told Poets and Traitors Press what to do with themselves. I find it a really abhorrent practice, publishers asking you to make drastic edits on your work. It might work with other authors but I actually like to think, after thirty years at it now, that I can actually edit a book myself. If you don't believe me look above!
Finally, better end as I can feel a rant coming on, I am taking a wee break from poetry now as I am currently back working on my novel in progress Hibernation which is basically a retelling of Raymond Chandler's magnificent debut novel The Big Sleep ( 1939).
That's it folks. All up to date. Just looking forward to seeing a few more reviews of Henry Street Arcade to follow on from Anamaria Crowe Serrano's which I published on my blog here. Also, the next issue of Pratik will feature nine of the poets and translators who joined me for Baudelaire 200 Years! the bicentenary celebration I helped organize for the Alliance Francaise here in Dublin. I am very proud of this achievement, the fact that I was able to get so many fine poets and translators together to celebrate Baudelaire who has had such a formidable influence on me. Also, I am expecting some of my poems from The Eroica Variations - the first three which have already been published in French - to appear soon in Spanish translations. That will be the first time that I will have some of my writing translated into Spanish so I am really looking forward to that.
Back to work now...
