MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
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Outpouring
by Miriam Spillane
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Get more than one use
out of a basin of water.
The walk, the pumping, the full buckets,
water as heavy as shame.
The no parties, the no friends
No invites to a house with no water.
Later, when a tap was sunk
in the backyard, the first glass
tasting of earth, half warm.
The grit banging against your teeth
was as sweet as life beginning.
Miriam Spillane is a poet from Cork. This poem describes rural hardship during the 1980s, a poverty that has influenced her writing and volunteer work.
Poetry submissions to thursdaypoems@gmail.com.
