Overview

Irish Elk and Other Extinctions concerns itself with the precarious and ever-changing nature of life on this planet. In poems which consider everything from melting glaciers to recycling, and the Age of Enlightenment to possible life on the moon, we are taken on a journey of what is and what might be possible. In a cast including snails and salamanders, nuns and lobster fishermen, we see how existence is unpredictable, but amongst the comings and goings, new things will always rise up, and sometimes all is not lost. Irish Elk megaloceros giganteus What did he think, the hunter who first saw you? Was he stunned at your towering headgear? Antlers wider than his cave. Did he fear your great height, so much taller than himself? Perhaps he gave chase but unable to outpace you, returned to his cave, drew on the walls in ochre and charcoal, recorded your red-gold hide, black collar and chinstrap, dark hump on your withers - those vast antlers. Did you starve trying to scavenge enough to regrow the massive headpiece each year? A maladaptation? Breeding females were thought to favour bucks with widest horns. I picture a chase through dense woods hear the crash and clatter, see branches fly before your great head is locked tight among the trees; hear bellows of pain, laboured breath as you strain, struggle and die from exhaustion in pursuit of love. I can only imagine your enormous elegance, think of herds that ranged through thinly-wooded grassland from Ireland to the shores of Lake Baikal, stopping to graze the sedge, grass or browse on leaves of spruce and willow. Winter, and your warm breath melted the snow as you dug in search of food. Your giant lips tore softly at spring herbs and flowers. Now only your bones are left to wonder at.

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9781916830455

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Christine Macfarlane was born in Liverpool and spent part of her childhood in Malaysia. She worked in education for many years and now lives with her husband in Bradford on Avon. She writes poetry and fiction and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and the National Poetry Competition. Her poetry has been published in The Rialto; Green Ink Poetry; Poetry Salzburg; Stanley Spencer Poems, An Anthology (Two Rivers Press, 2017); Pale Fire, New Writing on The Moon (The Frogmore Press, 2019) and Poems For Gustav Klimt (Hedgehog Poetry Press, 2024). She contributes to The Poetry Place on West Wilts Radio.

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