On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, Martin Connolly’s Narrative Poems – Out Of The Ordinary transforms everyday moments into extraordinary tales, blending Irish wit, subversive humor, and heartfelt reflection to rediscover the magic in daily life.
Narrative Poems – Out Of The Ordinary
In an era saturated with fleeting images and relentless noise, Irish poet Martin Connolly offers a quiet revolution through his latest collection, Narrative Poems – Out of the Ordinary. This compelling anthology of seventeen mostly narrative poems transforms the mundane into the magical, urging readers to rediscover the beauty hidden in daily life. With a blend of imagination, subversive humor, and profound reflection, Connolly—a Joycean scholar and professor of UK and Irish literature at Yokohama’s Tsurumi University—crafts poetic tales that resonate deeply, earning praise for their “extraordinary” and “insightful” nature.
Connolly’s poems unfold like richly imagined stories, each one a testament to his belief that the ordinary is brimming with significance. A plate of fish and chips narrates its own vibrant tale, a brick wall becomes a text of its own, and a pub transforms into a posthumous haven. Even the weather forecast is reimagined with a mischievous twist. Through these inventive lenses, Connolly challenges readers to see beyond complacency, using the act of seeing as a tool for liberation. His work subtly critiques societal and political norms, questioning the ways we take the world for granted in an increasingly unstable and unjust era.
What sets Narrative Poems apart is its Irish sensibility—delicate yet compassionate, never overly reverent. Connolly’s touch is evident in his playful yet poignant explorations, such as a poem personified as a living character who walks among us, befriending a narrator and later encountering the Novel. This meta-reflection on poetry’s place in the world harks back to the adventure-filled verses of Tennyson and Coleridge that captivated Connolly as a child, while lamenting poetry’s fall from universal adoration to modern neglect. Through his work, he calls for a re-evaluation of both poetry and the everyday moments it celebrates.
The collection also carries a personal weight, with poems that delve into grief. One moving piece reflects on the loss of Connolly’s brother Jim, weaving their shared love of jazz—born from their days as journalists for an Irish jazz magazine—into a tender exploration of connection. Another, a masterful ten-page haiku sequence, honors his Japanese father-in-law, whose passing during the book’s compilation delayed its promotion. These intimate reflections add depth to the collection, grounding its imaginative flights in raw human emotion.
Narrative Poems – Out of the Ordinary is more than a poetry collection; it’s a heartfelt call for peace and compassion in a fractured world. By celebrating the language and moments that shape daily life—a cup of tea, a city street, a simple meal—Connolly uncovers the extraordinary in what we overlook. His discursive, story-driven poems invite readers to embark on a journey of rediscovery, delighting in words and challenging us to see the world with fresh eyes. In doing so, Connolly not only breathes new life into the narrative poem but also reminds us of the quiet power of poetry to transform how we engage with the world.
Martin Connolly
Martin Connolly, an acclaimed Irish author from Belfast, has lived in Japan since 1991, where he serves as a professor of literature at Tsurumi University, Yokohama, and has taught Creative Writing at Keio University, Tokyo, for over a decade.
A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and Queen’s University, Belfast, with a focus on medieval English literature, he is also a noted Joycean scholar, having published numerous peer-reviewed articles on James Joyce and delivered lectures at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, with more scheduled this year.
His recent research on Joyce, Thomas Hardy, and Lucia Joyce is forthcoming, complementing his diverse literary output, which includes the celebrated novel Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 (2022, Shanway Press), the well-received Kind of Green – Jazz Legends, from ’86 – ’90, through an Irish lens (2023, Snowchild Press), featuring original jazz photography, alongside collections of poetry, short stories, and novels.
Find more from Martin Connolly now:
Twitter: Machrijam@C71916499
Narrative Poems – Out Of The Ordinary: https://amzn.to/4jDVYsU
Previous books by Martin Connolly:
Eri, a Japanese ghost story (2015) (novella)
Twitter: https://amzn.to/3FN2KyD
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4kU5VDs
Labournight & other poems (2016)
Paperback: https://amzn.to/43B2n3t
The Conjuring Cowboy (2017) (novel)
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3ZPmN6o
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4dQ7AI0
Contemporary Bloody Literature – Stories & Poems (2018)
Paperback: https://amzn.to/3FU6Pky
Belfast, with Dinosaurs, 1979 -a Prehysteric Farce (2022)
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3FU8u9M
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4kwBRht
Kind of Green – Jazz Legends, from ‘86 –‘90, through an Irish lens (2023)
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4mTBxLg
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