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“I am certain this work will be read and treasured by housewives, taxi-drivers and professors… The words come out almost perfectly.”—Martin Lynch, Irish News
Moyra Donaldson's voice is a woman’s voice—mother, daughter, wife, lover—tinged at times with anticipation, at times with regret. But always, the poet seeks the essence of life in the moment. In the title poem, she captures the wonder of emerging sexuality, as a girl finds her mother’s forbidden shoes and feels “Something/you’ve never felt before./These shoes are live and dangerous. A thoroughly modern poet, she does not avoid traditional forms, and she finds her imagery and metaphors, as those before her have, scattered in the harsh yet beautiful terrain of Ireland, her native land.
From the Book:
Eight years old, you understand
these shoes are different.
Not for nothing
has your mother wrapped them in paper
shut them into their box, set them
at the very back of the wardrobe.
Forbidden
…
From “Snakeskin Stilettos”
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Moyra Donaldson, born in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, graduated in English Language and Literature from Queens University, Belfast, where she qualified as a social worker and social welfare law at the University of Ulster and Queens University. She has been employed in welfare and education work with young people since 1981. Awards include the National Women's Poetry Competition and the Allingham Award, and she was given a major bursary from the Arts Council Northern Ireland and The Year of the Artist Award from Belfast City Council. She has had four stage plays produced, and her screenplay "h" was filmed in Belfast in 1997. Other projects include working with cross community groups, community theatre, schools, hospitals, and the Chinese Welfare Association. She was a founder member of the Creative Writers' Network and is literary editor for Fortnight Magazine.
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