by Rose Rushe
TIM Cunningham is a Limerick born man, CBS educated and London University. A varied working life has run parallel with writing, and he was awarded the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh fellowship in 2012. A fifth poetry collection ‘Almost Memories’ was published by Revival Press in October 2014.
This pick, ‘The Lyrics to the Nightingale’s Song’, is from Limerick City of Culture’s anthology ‘Dream of a City’ and is a thrilling bit of whimsy, reeling in the world’s unfinished yarns and sweet mystery. He plays us properly.
The Lyrics to the Nightingale’s Song
All morning I have cast my line/ Fishing from this rock, and landed
Cinderella’s slipper,/ Half a rainbow,/ A map of Shangri La,/ The shadow of the invisible man,/ Tolstoy’s death rattle,/ A crater from the dark side of the moon,/ Casanova’s foreskin,/ Four digits from the formula for love,/ The final chapters of ‘Edwin Drood’/ A tusk from the elephants’ graveyard,/ Jack the Ripper’s relationship with his mum,/ The lyrics to the nightingale’s song,/ The Unknown Sodier’s dogtag,/ The smoke without fire,/ Cleopatra’s recurring dream/ And the flutter of an angel’s wing.
Just imagine what I might have caught/ If I had used a hook.
Astrolabe Press 2014
