‘A sequence of poems that no writer would ever wish to write’ The Venice Suite is a deeply personal sequence of poems that charts poet Dermot Bolger’s experience of sudden bereavement. It explores the stages and states of loss in an irrevocably altered world, where one partner is left behind to deal with the ongoing business of living while trying to comprehend the enormity of the severance of a shared life suddenly rendered into the past tense. They manage to be richly tender love poems while trying to map the unknown new territory in which any bereaved person finds themselves.
Born in Finglas, North Dublin, in 1959, DERMOT BOLGER is one of Ireland’s best-known writers across a range of genres. His fourteen novels include The Journey Home, A Second Life, and The Lonely Sea and Sky. His most recent play, Last Orders At The Dockside, had a hugely successful sold-out run at the Abbey Theatre in 2019. His last new collection of poetry was The Venice Suite (2012), a book which resonated widely for its exploration of loss.
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