The Suicides

Softly they settle round me now,
gentle birds come home to roost,
dropping and shuffling one by one
onto the desk, open drawers,
heaped directories, nursing tracts.
They do not breath, but we might
be swapping breath, in for out,
so close they are, so present . They
are weightless, obviously, and yet,
so great their need or mine, we press
forehead to forehead one by one,
each for a second only, until
we have all touched. The hospital,
Victorian and beautiful, is still.
My list is cruel. Their various ends-
'Hanged.' 'Fell from a height.' 'Overdose.' etc.-
make for hard reading. Some were very young.
Many received the best of care. I sigh.
We, the Suicides and I, put down
our books, pens, burdens, leave the building.

Readings

The Shuffle, Poetry Cafe, London.
Mesoterica, Hammersmith
London Irish Centre, Camden Town.
Poetry Ireland, Dublin.
Brendan Kennelly Festival, Kerry.
Poetry Parlour, London.
John Hewitt Spring Festival, Antrim.
Strokestown Poetry Festival, Roscommon.

Publications (Pamphlets)

Dream Endings, Rack Press








Dream Endings begins with a glimpse of the poet's dying sister and concludes in high style with an unusually exuberant funeral. In between, Roisin Tierney assembles a cast of rare misfits and eccentrics in order to explore the interconnected themes of illness, madness, incest and death. Her vision is at all times tender and non-judgemental, and her language remarkable both for the limpidity of its surface and the depths it allows us to apprehend. £4




The Art Of Wiring, Ondt & Gracehoper






Poems by Simon Barraclough, Isobel Dixon, Luke Heeley, Christopher Reid, Liane Strauss, and Roisin Tierney. £8

Ask For It By Name, Unfold Press




Poems by Simon Barraclough, Olivia Cole, Isobel Dixon, Luke Heeley, Liane Strauss and Roisin Tierney. Design by Lynn Stewart. "A well-stocked anthology of fresh produce from six prize-winning poets. Behind the bottles and the butter you'll find Mussolini cheating on the tennis court and meet the shark from Jaws in a Yorkshire millpond; glimpse the love of woman for orang-utan and make it across the Spanish-Italian border; spy on the hobbies of cowboys and drink deep of the Molotov cocktail of love..." £5/€7,00



Unfold



Poems by Simon Barraclough, Helen Clare, Andrew Dilger, Isobel Dixon and Roisin Tierney. Design by Lynne Stuart. £5




Gobby Deegan’s Riposte, Donut Press




Poems by Edward Barker, Susan Grindley, Valerie Josephs, Barbara Marsh, Graham Mummery, Daljit Nagra, John Stammers, Roisin Tierney, Sinead Wilson.

Prizes

Gothic - joint 2nd prize in the Brendan Kennelly Poetry Competition 2007
Invierno - commended in the Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2007
Trajectory - runner up in Strokestown Poetry Competition 2006
Untitled – longlisted for Bridport Prize 2005
Becoming – 2nd Prize at the Oxfam Literature Festival 2004
Feet - Winner of supplementary prize in the Bridport Prize 2002
Crush -A Special Commendation and runners up prize in the 7th How do I love thee? Open Poetry Competition Jan 2002.
Half Mile Down - shortlisted for the 2001 TLS Poetry Competition