Commissions

Crescent Swift (commissioned poem)

I was commissioned by Sophie Hayles, CEO of the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, to write a poem about the swift for the Belfast Book Festival (2022). The common swift, Apus apus, migrates between Africa and Eurasia, and the Crescent Arts Centre is home to one of the largest swift colonies in Ireland.

The migration of swifts connects Europe and Africa today, but also hints at the memory of Pangaea, when the continents touched. Swifts evolved during the Eocene, almost 50 million years ago, when life was diversifying into new habitat. I thought about all of this, and about the swift’s commitment to flight and return. It seemed that the shape of a swift’s body, which can also that of a crescent, was the right shape for the poem. A concrete poem emerged to let the words lift off.

The poem, “Crescent Swift”, was launched on 16 June 2022, at “Flying Home: the World of Swifts”, a conversation between myself and Sarah Gibson, author of Swifts and Us. The event opened with my reading of the poem.

‘Crescent Swift’ was mounted as an installation in February 2023 at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast.

The poem is part of the theme of “Poetic Flight” by various artists …(see below).

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Swallows (installation)

My poem ‘Swallows’ (from Tribe, Dedalus Press 2008) was selected to be part of the installation “A Poetic Flight”, as part of the Belfast Book Festival 2022.

‘Swallows’ was displayed with the poem of the same title by the Ukrainian poet, Natalka Bilotserkivets. Our work was formed part of the installation alongside that of commissioned work by visual artists Patrick Murphy and Bill Gates.

“A Poetic Flight”, in words and images, is a permanent installation at The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast.

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