Books: 'My new poetry book was 11 years in the making'

Eleven years in the making, my second poetry collection, Neanderthal Boy, has similarities with my first, and yet is quite different.

While my first book was about finding one’s place in life, this one explores our interaction as humans with the natural and built world.

Cork, Ireland, and nature are backdrops for many of the poems, but they are not necessarily the themes.

There is a sprinkling of personal poems, but many take a more distant point of view, using personas from history to create an impartial landscape where I can explore.

You will come across the voices of: Oliver Cromwell; a little boy at the funeral of Terence MacSwiney; a mother during wartime in Syria; a young farm labourer in plague-ridden 14th-century Dorset, and many others.

The title poem, Neanderthal Boy, takes on the voice of a young neanderthal at some primaeval point where Homo-sapiens are beginning to dominate in the fight for survival. The intention is that, as well as a vignette from history, there is a parallel drawn with contemporary global conflicts, as when in the final line I say,

‘The Gods say someday they will turn on themselves.’

Throughout the book, I take on similar themes and voices in such poems as Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Cro-magnon Woman and Evolution. The last-mentioned was published in The Friday Poem in England in 2023, where they said of it: “We like the way this poem undermines our self-positioning from the get-go, we like its tone, its insight, and its humour. It manages to both sum up and interrogate the supreme self-confidence of the human race.”

Kinsale poet and translator Matthew Geden, said in his blurb: ‘This collection is both personal and political, unfolding through the lens of myth and memory.

“With a masterful touch, Scully intertwines the past and present, drawing connections between the familiar and the distant.

“Rich in imagery and insight, this collection invites readers to explore the margins of history and the simple beauty in fleeting everyday things.”

That is what the book is about, but why did it take 11 years to get into print? Well, after my first book, What News, Centurions?, was published by New Binary Press in 2014, my creative priorities pivoted. I became obsessed with Poetryfilm (a visual interpretation of the words).

It all began on a cold day in November, 2011, on a farm outside the city. Paul Casey, Cork poet and creator of the Ó Bhéal Open Mic Series, was recreating a fairday scene for a film version of The Lamas Hireling, an Ian Duhig poem.

I brought my eight-year-old daughter, Isabel, as an extra. Her fingers were frozen and the farmer had to give her soup afterwards to warm her up.

As for me, it was my first foray into Poetryfilm and I was hooked.

This has brought some great experiences, such as when I taught film to school kids in Douglas Girls National School for the Deaf, where we created an award-winner for The Fís National Primary School Awards 2024.

The writing continued in parallel, with poems published in reputable journals such as Poetry Ireland Review, Cyphers, Southword, and Crannóg, but a second collection slipped down my list of priorities.

I continued working as a chemical engineer through the start of covid, but in late 2020, after a 30-year career, I decided to take a step back from that to focus on my creative interests.

This gave me the space and time to gather my poems together.

When I found that my original Cork publisher, New Binary Press, was no longer in business, it left me with the unenviable task of finding another.

While spreading my net far and wide in the search, I assembled my manuscript. This time, I decided to go with my gut, choosing the poems I liked the best from the many I had written over the previous 11 years, rather than being overtly guided by the views of writer-colleagues.

Because of this, I feel Neanderthal Boy represents my authentic voice well.

In 2023, I got accepted by an English publisher, but due to Brexit, and increased costs associated with shipping, online sales into Ireland would have been prohibitive.

I eventually opted for Wordsonthestreet, a long-standing company which has great experience of the Irish poetry environment.

My publisher, Tony O’Dwyer, has been editing Crannóg Journal since 2001. The whole process has taken two years since we first made contact, but I am very happy with the result. The final jobs were to decide on a title and a cover picture. Matthew Geden, who helped me review the original manuscript, suggested Neanderthal Boy. I had been toying with Stolen Memories, but I took his advice as it coincided well with an idea I had for the cover.

For some time, I had wanted to use a sculpture of a clay head my daughter made for her Leaving Cert Art project. Painted in bronze, it seemed to capture the tone of the book well. I took out my SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) camera and I think we came up with the perfect shot.

My plans for the future are to continue my work in Poetryfilm, and progress with my role as a creative facilitator in the community.

Meanwhile, I will keep time aside to write poetry. Watch my films and learn more about me at my website colmscully.com.

But first, join me at Cork City Library on Thursday, September 25 at 6.30 pm, where esteemed poet, Anton Floyd, will launch my new collection into the world.

Neanderthal Boy can be purchased at wordsonthestreet.com