A Place Apart

Memory is the leitmotif of the collection, sparked by the smell of orange peel with that Kavanagh-like ending of ‘sixty Christmases of age’, by the sight of ‘frozen clothes/still hanging on the garden line’, in the ‘thud on the kitchen window’ or Joe Malone’s bohemian pub of the 70s.

Remembering is pivotal to the poet’s work and Beville is alert to the faintest spark. It could be an idle guitar or what leaves him ‘choking on the naked truth’. Moments from childhood’s warm nest and early manhood are also recalled and serve to justify the poet’s assertion that it is the duty of the poet to

Memorialise the miracle of the moment

(From the Introduction by John Liddy)