Tag: Maurice Devitt

Featured Publication – Some of These Stories are True by Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ Leave a comment

Our featured publication for September and October is Some of These Stories are True by Maurice Devitt, published by Doire Press.

‘Maurice Devitt is a unique voice in contemporary Irish poetry. In Some of These Stories are True he continues to tantalise us with poems brimming with playfulness, imagination and beauty. These poems are lifted from life – often slant versions of lives – and are fuelled by a poetic perception that is wise and uncanny. These lines from ‘Cherry Blossom’ encapsulate the essence of his oeuvre: ‘…the joy of life is often to be found / in the comfort of repetition, reassurance of the mundane, / and just the occasional instance of perfection.’ Brian Kirk

‘Maurice Devitt’s second collection Some of These Stories are True contains many worlds, including a rich inner world, the world of work, the world of innocence, childhood and the past. He depicts an older Ireland with an almost hermetic quality in his poem ‘Antimacassar’, with descriptions of flocked wallpaper and powdery silence. As he says in his poem ‘Dippy Eggs’ (and who of a certain age doesn’t remember them?): ‘For everything there is a perfect point of lift-off / Missed, and the chance is gone.’
And lift-off is what these poems do – often philosophical, sometimes playful – the narrative voice offers us a view of the familiar and everyday in a new light, containing nuggets of wit and wisdom.’ Jean O’Brien

…

…

…

…

…

Born in Dublin, Maurice Devitt completed an MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei following a 30-year career in Insurance & Banking. His debut collection ‘Growing Up in Colour’ was published by Doire Press in 2018. His poems have featured in a significant number of journals, both in Ireland and internationally, and been nominated for Pushcart, Forward and Best of the Net prizes. He is a past winner of the Trócaire/Poetry Ireland, Poems for Patience and Bangor Poetry Competitions, and has been placed or shortlisted in many others, including The Patrick Kavanagh Award, The Listowel Collection Competition and Cúirt New Writing Award. Maurice is the chairperson of The Hibernian Writers’ Group, and his Pushcart-nominated poem, ‘The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work’, was the title poem of an anthology of the group’s work published by Alba Publishing in 2015. He is curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies Facebook page where he posts featured poems, news and poetry articles on a daily basis.

Copies of Some of These Stories are True can be purchased for the Doire Press website.

Home – Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ Leave a comment

Home

…

…

A past winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland and Poems for Patience competitions, he published his debut collection, ‘Growing Up in Colour’, with Doire Press in 2018. Curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, his Pushcart nominated poem, ‘The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work’, was the title poem of an anthology published by Hibernian Writers in 2015. His second collection ‘Some of These Stories are True’ is due from Doire in 2023.  

Dippy Eggs – Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ 1 Comment

Dippy Eggs

…

…

A past winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland and Poems for Patience competitions, Maurice Devitt published his debut collection, ‘Growing Up in Colour’, with Doire Press in 2018. Curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, his Pushcart-nominated poem, ‘The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work’, was the title poem of an anthology published by Hibernian Writers in 2015. His second collection ‘Some of These Stories are True’ is due from Doire in 2023.  

The Sisters – Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ 1 Comment

The Sisters

After the other guests leave, you are alone
with them, and, in the minutes it takes
for absence to settle, you plump up the cushions
on the settee, stoke the fire – seeking refuge
in the crackle of sparks – and wonder
what direction this might take. Neighbours
and friends for years, there was
that gnawing silence the last time you met,
a silence you just couldn’t explain.
Yet, when you invited them around,
they were quick to accept. Now,
turned towards the fire, you sense their eyes
on you – the burr of a cleared throat signalling
a conversation that could go either way.

…

Maurice Devitt: Curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, he published his debut collection, ‘Growing Up in Colour’, with Doire Press in 2018.  His Pushcart-nominated poem, ‘The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work’, was the title poem of an anthology published by Hibernian Writers in 2015. 

It might be over – Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ 1 Comment

It might be over

This morning we found
a glass slipper on the step
and, despite me trying
to convince you
that it looked a little tight,
you felt it was a perfect fit,
so ever since
I have been watching you
like a hawk, as you hover
in the vicinity of the front door,
though, thankfully, one postman
and two chuggers later,
there is still no sign of a prince.

 

Maurice Devitt: Winner of the 2015 Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition, he has been runner-up or shortlisted in Listowel, Cuirt, Patrick Kavanagh, Interpreter’s House and Cork Literary Review. He is curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, chairperson of the Hibernian Writers’ Group and has recently published his debut collection ‘Growing Up in Colour’ with Doire Press.

The New Neighbours – Maurice Devitt

~ Claire Walker ~ 2 Comments

The New Neighbours

The sign had hardly gone up
when the house was sold,
a young couple with two kids,
people said, and we wondered
how they would fit into our perfect lives.
They started well, it must be said –
two weeks like a film set
and the paintwork was pristine,
the garden in bloom. We thought drugs
or witness protection, and yet
they integrated with aplomb –
she joined the book club,
he talked rugby on the street,
but still, five years later,
there is something
I can’t quite put my finger on.

 

Maurice Devitt: Runner-up in The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition in 2017, he was winner of the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition in 2015 and has been placed or shortlisted in many competitions including the Patrick Kavanagh Award, Listowel Collection Competition, Over the Edge New Writer Competition and Cuirt New Writing Award. He is also the curator of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies site, a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group and has a debut collection upcoming from Doire Press in 2018.