Catherine Phil MacCarthy Biography
Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born in County Limerick in 1954 and educated at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, and Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She has taught at Waterford Institute of Technology and at The Drama Centre, University College Dublin. Indeed, the influence of drama is evident in her ability to sketch character and build poems to a climactic, dramatic resolution. MacCarthy began writing full time in 1999, and has since received the Fish International Poetry Prize , the Dromineer Poetry Prize and the Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award. Her most recent collection The Invisible Threshold (2012) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award.
Across the bleached stepping stones,
river down to a soundless trickle, lazy pools
lukewarm in the shade, we speak of the rains
that flooded the canyon last summer,
...
The firstborn was handed back to them
in a small cask not much bigger than
a shoebox only wooden no more about it
they took it home by pony and trap
...
Giant antlers shine at night
diamond, sapphire, branch
in a neighbour's garden,
...
At the Musée Rodin I looked for us
among the lovers. We were never that
fierce, a couple twinned in flight,
white marble bodies all delicate curve
...
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