.
Noel King
TRALEE poet Noel King is one of four nominees for Irish Poem of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards to be awarded at the National Convention Centre on November 23.
His poem “Glissando” was shortlisted by noted poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan. It qualified by being published between October 1st 2020 and September 30th 2021 in Cyphers #91 in April 2021. Noel was born and lives in Tralee and his works include poetry, haiku and short stories published in over a thousand publications in 38 countries.
Continued below…
.
He is also edited more than fifty books by fellow authors and was poetry editor of “Revival Literary Journal (Limerick Writers Centre).
He has been a prize winner in the William Allingham Short Story Competition, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize
The Irish Poem of the Year Award is decided by Public Vote, so your support would be gratefully appreciated. Please vote at www.irishbookawards.ie One vote per email by 15th November.
Glissando
The sister played glissando after glissando,
annoying the hands out of all of us.
‘Mom, she’ll make the piano all out of tune’,
I complained, but mother just shrugged, smiled.
The ‘last charge’ was when a visiting neighbour boy
who hadn’t a musical note in his head
clenched his fist to his shoulder blade
and used his elbow for a 5 Octave glissando.
With a hot face I pushed him away,
took over the stool, played an angry Chopin fugue.
Coming back to the sister, it was she started it,
taping herself on a old Ferguson recorder,
reel to reel, playing it backwards,
wishing she had the technology to slow it down:
trying to make
the perfect glissando;
something we’ve been doing
with our lives ever since, the sister and I.
