THAT SHIP HAS SAILED
And Evening of Poetry
By and With Terence Winch
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Friday, March 31, 2023, at 6:30 pm
ACW Members Free - Non-members $15
Reading and Wine Reception
That Ship Has Sailed, Terence Winch’s ninth collection of poetry, synthesizes the serious and comic to address sex, love, loss, death, belief, the afterlife, and the past. In February 2023, the University of Pittsburgh Press published this latest collection by Winch as part of its fabled Pitt Poetry Series.
“This book is so wonderful!” raves Denise Duhamel, author of Second Story. “His writing is mature, elegiac, nostalgic, and wry. You’ll find wisdom and antiwisdom (via a villanelle), an especially sonic sonnet, a cento that grows like a flower, and a sestina that dances.”
The poems are honest and direct without sacrificing “the uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts” that Keats singles out in his notion of “negative capability,” alluded to in the title poem. Amplified by the poet’s work as a traditional Irish musician and composer, language is the adhesive that brings the work together across the avant-garde to traditional forms and meters.
Terence Winch is the author of eight previous poetry collections, the young adult novel Seeing Eye Boy, and the short story collections Contenders and That Special Place. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing, the Columbia Book Award, and an American Book Award, among other honors. The Bronx-born son of Irish immigrants, Winch is also a founding member of acclaimed Irish band Celtic Thunder and composer of the band’s best-known song, “When New York Was Irish.” Since 2020, he has served as editor of a feature on the Best American Poetry blog called “Pick of the Week.” While he and his work are widely admired in the poetry world, he is also well known in the DC area, where he has lived for most of his writing career.
A VISIT FROM THE SISTERS OF THE SICK/POOR
FOR ALICE MCDERMOT
The dark nuns of the night came into
the charnel house. The kettle was whistling.
The wind was wicked rough against me.
I stood with the trees overlooking my street.
How much do you want for Thursday?
I asked. I was selling off the week. Mind you
Be out of here at 10 minutes to 7, they said.
Terence Winch
6:30 pm - Reading by Winch, joined by George O’Brien, Christopher Griffin, and Michael Whelan, guest- reading selections from Winch’s other work. The reading will end with an interview by George O'Brien, Professor Emeritus of English at Georgetown University, Irish-born author of a trilogy of memoirs -- The Village of Longing, Dancehall Days and Out of Our Minds -- as well as academic works on contemporary Irish literature.
7:30 pm - Wine and Hors d’oeuvres Reception with book signing by Terence Winch. That Ship Has Sailed and other Winch collections well as CDs of Winch’s Irish music will be on sale.
