The Laughter of Mothers

by Paul Durcan

In this enthralling and personal collection, Paul Durcan celebrates his mother in original and captivating fashion. Sheila MacBride came from a political family—her uncle John MacBride was executed in 1916 for his part in the Easter Uprising—but when she married into the “black, red-roaring, fighting Durcans of Mayo” she was obliged to give up a promising legal career. These poems commemorate his mother as Durcan remembers her: playing golf, reading Tolstoy, and initiating him in the magic of the cinema. He recalls her compassion and loyalty when he was committed to a mental hospital in adolescence and how she endured the ordeal of her old age. In the meantime, Durcan is beguiled by a beggar woman, enraged by a young man picking his nose on the Dublin-Sligo commuter train, and gets into difficulty at the security gate of Dublin airport.

Genres: Poetry, Ireland

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Paul Durcan was an Irish poet.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Christmas present (a signed copy, in fact) and not something I would normally have read, but I have to say I really enjoyed it. There is a gentle, almost passive resignation to the tone of voice which, in the many poems that explore the vacuous heart of 'Celtic Tiger' Ireland, seems oddly appropriate.

The book is divided into two parts, the second a series of startlingly frank poems about his recently deceased mother. These latter often flip, from one to the next, between first and third person (first person, as in his mother's voice) and that suppleness allows Durcan to really work through what appears to have been a remarkable relationship.

Highlights of the first section include 'Death on Strand Road', a devastating account of a man having a heart attack at a Dublin petrol station as life flows on around him, and the very funny 'On Being Required to Remove My Trouser Belt at Dublin Airport Security'.

[Zahra Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! Funny, moving, playful and delightfully accessible.

[Diarmuid O'Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

superb book ... full of fantastic and beautiful storied poems and wanderings

[Eimear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of my favourite poems were
- death on strand road,
- fathers and daughters,
- achill island girl,
- a view of a bridge,
- a road in October swimming at dawn,
- on my 46th birthday,
- on the Dublin Sligo commuter train,
- at the grave of my aunt Sara Mary,
- heatwave,
-the seal of burrrishoole,
- newsdesk,
- epistemology,
- treasure island,
- mother’s altar boy,
-crime and punishment,
- the wrong box,
- nineteen eighty four,
- the gallows tree,
- clohra,
- first place in Ireland
- Stephens Green after heavy rain
- max
- little old lady
- september 11, 2001
- golden mothers driving west
- mummy dead

There is absolutely not reason for me to list all of these. But I thought if you didn’t want to read the whole book maybe you can pick from this list and read them online.
Ever since I read Paul Durcan’s poems during the leaving certificate his words have remained with me. Reading his poems really stirs up emotions through vivid imagery and at times somewhat dreamlike while tackling difficult topics of grief, love, and observations of society

[Mainzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry is good if it makes you cry, right?

[Aine MacAodha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this Author/poet and this collection of poems written with his mother in mind, is funny at best and sad too.

[Anne Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent!