One ear to chimney-breast, on bended knee, better to hear
trapped wing-beats, he prised ajar the black ornate
cast hood. Then slid his arm inside the flue
as though one gloved limb were deeply sunk
in hind-quarters of a cow, to guide the head in utero,
though here, no calf in hairy smear or bloody stink
was sensed. First, soot sprinkled rolled-up sleeve
of shirt; his thumb and fingers gripped wiry claws
and held. Down, gently, drew his haul into the room.
Dishevelled. Stained. Feathery mass weighed his hands.
He cupped the ample beating heart and walked.
The bird was fond of warmth, or slightly stunned.
For seconds brooded. Then, lifted wings and hopped
onto the window ledge. And flew. A freed white dove.
© Catherine Phil MacCarthy, from Daughters of the House, published here by kind permission of Dedalus Press, Dublin, 2019.
Picture 11005202, painting by Tilly Willis, 1991, © Mary Evans / Medici
Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born and grew up in Co. Limerick and studied at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, and Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She taught at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) and at The Drama Centre, University College Dublin, before turning full-time to writing in 1999. She lives in Dublin. Her collections include The Invisible Threshold (2012), Suntrap (2007), the blue globe (1998), This Hour of the Tide (1994), and One Room an Everywhere, a novel, (2003). She is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review (1998/99). She received the eighteenth Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry from the University of St Thomas Center for Irish Studies at St Paul, Minnesota, in April 2014. Other awards include an artist’s residency at Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris during the Spring of 2013; the Dromineer Literary Festival Poetry Prize in 2012, judged by Fiona Sampson and The Fish International Poetry Prize in 2010, judged by Matthew Sweeney. She worked as Writer in Residence for the City of Dublin (1994), and at the Department of Anglo-Irish Literature, University College, Dublin (2002) and she tutored in Poetry and Creative Writing at Irish Writers Centre; Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire; and at St Patrick’s College, Dromcondra. Readings include Poetry Festivals in Ireland and abroad and also at Irish Studies Centres: Glucksman Ireland House, NYU; Villanova University; Boston College; University of Massachusetts at Boston; and Concordia University Montreal. www.catherinephilmaccarthy.com
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