As people, we have always sought meaning in our lives not only through reason, but through image, rhythm and metaphor. Poetry stands among our most enduring ways of knowing. It does not intend to compete with facts, nor does it seek to settle every argument. Instead, it inhabits another space within our world. It allows us to glimpse what shudders beneath certainty; to hold a tension without a resolution and to detect in the faintest of signals, something deeper and more enduring.
The act of writing a poem is, at heart, an act of trust. It rests upon the belief that something experienced, imagined or half-understood may reveal another truth through the language, in the form and among the words. The sharing of that possibility, the offering of poetry itself, requires both courage and faith. And in return, our gratitude.
Perhaps this explains why poetry persists. Not because it is effective, nor because it offers remedies, but because there will always be aspects of our humanity, our knowledge and our sentiment that resist explanation and yet demand exploration. In a determinedly binary world, poetry, in common with all great art forms, allows something other, something essential to endure: exultant perhaps, bruised inevitably, but irreducibly human.
Seamus Heaney spoke of poetry’s capacity to “credit marvels”. He understood that poetry does not deny the evidence of all that might be askew all around us. Rather, it insists that such evidence isn’t the whole story. The poets in this collection stand within that tradition, reaffirming the continuing vitality of poetry here and welcoming new voices into an ancient and ongoing conversation. It is a privilege to celebrate Seamus Heaney’s enduring contribution and to help sustain the culture of poetry to which he gave so much. Community Arts Partnership remains deeply grateful for the support of the Heaney family through these awards.
To those poets whose work has been honoured through longlisting, shortlisting and ultimately receiving the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, we offer our warmest congratulations and our thanks. The distinction between poems is often so fine and the quality of work submitted this year made the task of selection both difficult and deeply rewarding.
I am indebted to our panelists, the inaugural award recipient, Dr Stephanie Conn; last year’s recipient Jason Lovell and Damian Smyth, Head of Literature from our principal funder, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland who joined me in this year’s selection. My deepest gratitude for their support, energy and wisdom.
The Seamus Heaney Awards and indeed, this ongoing series of anthologies, seek to celebrate not only individual accomplishment, but the continuing vitality of the poetry produced here and the community endeavour that sustains it.
Conor Shields
Editor, Endure
Chief Executive,
Community Arts Partnership
