Gone Self Storm|Harry Clifton|Bloodaxe Books
Launches Wednesday 5th April at 6pm in Hodges Figgis
The Sweep
Everything was thirty years ago
Including the last time the chimneysweep
Put in an appearance. Birds have built
In the choked windpipe
Of the lumb. The coke-fumes
In the bedroom, smokeless guilt
Invisible as eye-motes, slowly make themselves felt.
Spread the dust-sheet now, on thirty years,
And start the vacuum up.
Stand back, while the nests of blood
Aborted, and the unborn generations
Disappear into the sack
Of darkness with a sigh
And the hearth is cold, and you can see the sky.
Harry Clifton
Gone Self Storm (Bloodaxe Books, 2023)
Harry Clifton will be reading from Gone Self Storm Wednesday 5 April at Hodges Figgis, introduced by Benjamin Keatinge. Presented in association with Trinity College Dublin. Full details here.