The Age of Glass - Michael Farry

The Age of Glass

Michael Farry's second poetry collection, The Age of Glass, was published by Revival Press, Limerick, Ireland in June 2017. The design and cover image is by Lotte Bender. The collection contains a total of 63 poems grouped in five sections, the last of which is "Gerontology".

The Trim launch of the collection was held on 8 June at 8pm in the Castle Arch Hotel, Trim. Nessa O'Mahony, poet and teacher, officially launched the collection.

Michael Farry is, to use his own phrase, a poet who weaves ‘a web of mystery and belonging based on rough landmarks’. . . his gaze ranges far beyond the parochial; compassion, be it for refugees or the homeless, is a hallmark of his work. . . But he is also a poet of the domestic, and the tenderest poems celebrate family and the joys of grandparenting. The Age of Glass is a work of maturity and of wisdom.   Nessa O’Mahony

A self-professed amateur archeologist - the poet as digger - Michael Farry takes a forensic look at life’s abundance, and never better than when he faces up to his own mortality; physical, then, with a dash of the metaphysical, these poems will give you pause for thought, and leave you the stronger for it!  Iggy McGovern  

Revival Press is a community publishing press and is the poetry imprint of The Limerick Writers' Centre. It was founded by managing editor Dominic Taylor in 2007. It has published over thirty poetry titles to date plus three anthologies including I Live in Michael Hartnett. Revival has also helped establish a number of local and national poets by publishing their first collections.

One of the aims of Revival Press is to make writing and publishing both available and accessible to all. It tries as much as possible to represent diverse voices and advocates for increased writing and publishing access to individuals and groups that have not typically had this access.

Oisin Farry's film for the poem "Trim Castle" by Michael Farry

Simon Smith's film for the poem "The Age of Glass" by Michael Farry

Two poems from The Age of Glass

The Age of Glass

This is the age of glass:
sheets suspended at the sides of rooms,
they are the sides of rooms.
Mirrors and windows
expose our insides,
gaping to daylight.

Our frontage has collapsed
as if an earthquake has quivered
through a poor quarter,
left all rooms three-walled,
every nook naked,
intimacies on general display.

And light seeks us out,
rampages through monstrous panes,
rebounds from silvered sheets,
makes day and night irrelevant,
dazzles us all.

To sin in secret is impossible
so we surrender in public,
purchase service, companionship,
casual words over coffees,
dearer than you might imagine.

The price of reflection is discontent,
of transparency invisibility.
Caught in the full-length glare
we are lost in numberless reflections,
desolate splinters, anonymous
among thin transparent millions.

Baking

Before I am dead
three hours, the smell of baking
will rise like incense
from the semi-detached homes
in this housing estate.

Mixing bowls will moan
as they fold in cream flour,
free-range eggs,
buttermilk
and a selection of dried fruits.

Street lights
will blink in disbelief
as ovens are preheated
in unison, then lumbered
with the dead weight of dough.

When cool to the touch
the golden fruits of labour
will be wrapped, borne
and handed over
with words of consolation.

Our kitchen table will be heaped
and for three days and three nights
grateful mourners
will enjoy the rich crust
of friendship and tradition.

Then all the empty flour bags,
milk cartons, egg shells
and used bun cases
will be binned for collection
Wednesday morning.

by that night beginning to decay.