By Rachael Hegarty James Travers’s Deposition and Statement at the Coroner’s Court 02.10.03 I am James Travers, brother of the deceased, Thomas (Jack) Travers. Jack worked for himself, supplying wood shavings for chicken farms. On the 17th of May 1974 I heard the news of the bombings in Dublin. I drove home to Monaghan. On […]
Cyphers
Cholera
By Joseph Woods No sooner had the President been sworn in when cholera stalked the high-density neighbourhoods of the capital and, with medieval aplomb scythed a score and more. An early act of grace by the President was to pay passage for the former First Lady and adversary, to attend her mother’s funeral. Five-thousand air-miles […]
Wicker to Silver
by Mary Montague Provided there’s a maximum of three, vulpids can be safely carried in wicker baskets. But young cubs are best. Certainly no more than one of the elect. In containment, they gain quiet dignity. Fox melds with willow. Sallow with russet. Bracken in early spring before the green shoots begin to bud. Now […]
Cyphers award given to the Syrian poet Maram al-Masri
The Cyphers Award is offered to the Syrian poet Maram Al-Masri, to whom this number of Cyphers pays a special tribute. Maram al-Masri writes in Arabic and French; her work explores the agony and the adventure of exile and the sharp edges of the female condition in an especially humane and piercing voice. From time to […]
Yes, In The Beginning
By Sighle Meehan Long before the goats there was a shadow,a breath, yes in the beginning a breathsifted light from dark, washed the dustwith rain, drew a sun in a big round sky.Made clay. Before the ballerina hooves, in the wildhoodof the goats, there were rivers,rock and forest, where birds – did I not say […]
William Soutar’s Room
By Tom French Because they love him and want him to liveand know in their hearts he will leave this roomby neither window nor door, they have ordainedthat the lintel that has been always there be raised, the sill lowered and the oak frame,fashioned to last a lifetime, be replacedwith one that runs so close […]
Head Wounds
By Michael Farry Each thin line of fresh blood on my foreheadis an insignia of ageI claim, my genetic baldness, ambushed and bledstanched by paper scrap or band aidno shame. When the mischievous imp scrawls graffitileaves his conspicuous messageI blame a careless car boot lid, something sneakysuspended in the shed, a straywindow frame or missed […]
He Made It All Too Obvious
By Terese Coe He made it all too phony about affection,made it all too creepy about using women,made it all too Don Juan about his alleged amours,all too evident he was twisted and alltoo dull when anyone interrupted him byso little as a word,he made it all too mercenary,and sick, finally, lying over and overand […]
Last poems by Macdara Woods
Last Poems and Two Tales from County Meath Macdara Woods was one of the founding editors of Cyphers and was a pillar of the magazine until his death in 2018. His wife Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin found eleven poems, in almost finished state, on his computer, and she has done some minimal tidying with the help […]
Cyphers 89 in the shops
The bookshops are open and the latest issue of Cyphers is now available. With stories of migration and family by Margarita Meklina and Orla Murphy, poems from Ireland and the world, this issue is an opportunity of imaginary travel. It includes a selection of poetry translated from Russian, from Pushkin to the present. If you […]