Of this new book, Rowan Williams has said, “These beautiful pieces, with all their clear and sensuous detail, are the work of a profound imagination constantly letting itself be ‘startled into certainties’…”
Deane is the founder of Dedalus Press — where he served as editor from 1985 to 2006. He has also been a visiting scholar in the United States: in 2006 at the Burns Library of Boston College, in 2016 at Loyola University in Chicago, and in 2019 at Notre Dame University in Indiana.
Through the years I have sought to bring his work to the attention of poetry readers in North America. Most recently, I have included three of Deane’s poems in my new anthology Unto Us A Child Is Born: The Kingdom Poets Book of Christmas which appeared this month (Poiema/Cascade).
Back in May, my wife and I met John Deane and Gerard Smyth at a Dublin pub to deepen connections, talk poetry over lunch, and to exchange books. The following poem is from Jonah and Me.
Wakening
He found the body gross, like mutton-fat,
the mind sour as buttermilk, as crud.
Now he wakes with dawn, still in darkness,
grown old, bones creaking like a grating door.
Sometimes he feels like the farmyard mutt
useless on three legs, all straggling hairs;
what wisdom he bears is useless as a shadow,
eyes lifeless as pond-water. But he has settled
to a comforting placidity. Prayer is silence,
spirit-bones and soul-blood fluctuant as breath.
He moves towards the judgement-door, and —
though humankind has mapped the galaxies,
filled grains of sand into a glass and called it
time — he knows the young man Lazarus fell asleep
and Jesus, weeping, slowly moved to waken him.
Posted with permission of the poet.
*This is the third Kingdom Poets post about John F. Deane: first post, second post.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of six poetry collections including, The Role of the Moon, from Paraclete Press — which received a Gold Medal (Poetry) at the Illumination Book Awards (USA) and also won the 2026 Word Award for Poetry (Canada). His earlier books — including Angelicus (2021, Poiema/Cascade), and his new anthology, Unto Us A Child Is Born: The Kingdom Poets Book of Christmas — are available through Wipf & Stock.
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