Carcanet Press Logo
Quote of the Day
an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America.
Seamus Heaney
News
Rachel Mann and Carl Phillips Shortlisted for T.S. Eliot Prize
Congratulations to Rachel Mann and Carl Phillips, whose collections Eleanor Among the Saints and Scattered Snows, to the North have been shortlisted for the 2024 T.S. read more
Paul Stephenson Shortlisted for Polari Prize
Many congratulations to Paul Stephenson, who has been shortlisted for the Polari Book Prize 2024 with his collection Hard Drive! read more
Five Carcanet Poems Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes 2024
We're thrilled to announce that five poems from Carcanet titles have been Highly Commended in the 2024 Forward Prizes for Poetry! read more
Welcome to Carcanet Press, one of the outstanding independent literary publishers of our time. Now in its sixth decade, Carcanet publishes the most comprehensive and diverse list available of modern and classic poetry in English and in translation, as well as inventive fiction, Lives and Letters and critical writing.

Shipments outside the UK will be sent via courier, duties unpaid. Please note that customs and duty fees may be charged by your national postal operator or courier service.

Emotional Support Horse Emotional Support Horse Claudine Toutoungi
Dante's Purgatorio Dante's Purgatorio Philip Terry
Tablets Tablets Dunya Mikhail
Library Lives Library Lives Stella Halkyard
Conjurors Conjurors Julian Orde Ed. James Keery
Citizen Poet Citizen Poet Eavan Boland Ed. Jody Allen Randolph
Collected Poems Collected Poems Mimi Khalvati
One Little Room One Little Room Peter McDonald
Invisible Dog Invisible Dog Fabio Morábito Tr. Richard Gwyn
Access digital editions of selected Carcanet titles
Poem of the Day

The Prompt

Martina Evans

Was he thinking aloud or trying
to help? If we had to stand up to spell
a word as Gaeilge, he croaked along with us
and that was all we had to go on with –
tossed every day
on the storm of sounds, the unintelligible language
that must have been beaten out of children
on the same spot a hundred years
before a language filled now with pain and spittle
and because he stuttered
in between the letters, his ‘uh’ and ‘eh’ and ‘ah’
could be taken for the wrong vowel,
the signal for him to dash
to the drawer for his stick.
We rocked in front of him, our ears
cocked to his tobacco breath,
another game of bluff.
Taken from 'The Windows of Graceland'...
Share this...
The Carcanet Blog Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more PN Review 279: Elegies by Lorna Goodison read more Conjurors: Julian Orde read more Citizen Poet: Eavan Boland read more Library Lives: Stella Halkyard read more Tablets: Dunya Mikhail read more
Find your local bookshop logo
Arts Council Logo
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
This website ©2000-2024 Carcanet Press Ltd