Poet Sweeney back in the saddle after six-year wait

A LULL in poet Matthew Sweeney’s writing used to plunge him into despair.

“When I didn’t write, I’d panic. I was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s gone. It’s gone’.” He has learned the value of down-times, that fallow is potential for renewal. Over the past decade, the gaps between collections has been widening. In the six years between his latest collection, Horse Music, and his last, Black Moon, he has become more philosophical.

“After the last book, I couldn’t find my way for a while, and that can often means that you’re moving on to something else and you don’t quite know where you’re moving on to,” he says. “This book took a bit longer to get going and that’s good for a book, to live with it a bit longer.