Acknowledgements are due to the editors of the following journals, websites and anthologies, where some of these poems, or versions of these poems, first appeared: Bear Review, BODY Literature, Causeway / Cabhsair, Connotation Press, The Dark Horse, Dear World & Everyone In It (Bloodaxe Books, 2013), Eborakon, Edinburgh Review, Éire/Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies, The Honest Ulsterman, Irish Pages, The Irish Review, The Lifeboat, Neu Reekie!, Pleiades, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Proper, The Rialto, Shine On: Irish Writers for Shine (Dedalus Press, 2011), The Scotsman, Southword, and The Yellow Nib.
A big thank you to Adrian Grima for allowing me to publish my translation of his poem, ‘Andrew Dreams of Catherine Wheels’. ‘Blue Nude’ was written as part of a collaborative project with the artist Douglas Hutton and displayed alongside his work at Enniskillen Castle Galleries. ‘Night’ was commissioned by Katherine Lockton for a project celebrating the war poetry of Giuseppe Ungaretti and written in response to Ungaretti’s poem ‘Half asleep’ (‘In dormaveglia’).
I’m extremely grateful to the Society of Authors for a Somerset Maugham Award in 2011; to Michael Longley who, as Ireland Chair of Poetry, gave me a bursary which enabled me to spend time at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig; to the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne for awarding me the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize in 2012; and to Jim Carruth for appointing me as the mentor on Clydebuilt 6. Thanks to the staff at Annaghmakerrig for always making me feel welcome, and to everyone who helped to make my time in Melbourne special.
For advice, encouragement and just general good companionship, I would also like to thank Paul Batchelor, Fran Brearton, Elizabeth Campbell, Ailbhe Darcy, Leontia Flynn, Peter Mackay, Paul Maddern, Eoghan Walls and Alex Wylie.