The cow or heifer in Gaelic poetry, especially in the Jacobite era, was often used as a secret code name for Ireland, as, for example, in such poems as ‘An Droimeann Donn Dílis’. The title of the poem, taken in conjunction with Clarke’s well-known fondness for Gaelic poetry, gives a clue as to what it may be about. In my experience as a frazzled English teacher ‘The Lost Heifer’ always provoked puzzled reactions from my students. This theme occupied Clarke for much of his poetic career. It is also interesting to note that ‘The Blackbird of Derrycairn’ has as its main theme the conflict between pagan and Christian values, here represented by an imagined conversation between St. The three poems selected by Martin are, however, good examples of the way many Irish poets transposed some of the stylistic devices associated with this type of poetry into English verse. ‘The Lost Heifer’, ‘The Blackbird of Derrycairn’, and ‘The Planter’s Daughter’ brought back fond memories of English classes long ago! The Clarke poems selected in Augustine Martin’s infamous Interim (!) Anthology don’t give a comprehensive view of his range as a poet but they do display his enthusiasm for Gaelic poetry. More zeroes in, with laserlike intensity, on the interior life of an extraordinary 'ordinary woman,' showcasing Clarke's skill as a writer of inimitable force.Recently I was browsing through my precious, dog-eared and scribbled-on copy of Soundings and came across the three Austin Clarke poems featured in that anthology. Eventually Idora finds her way back into the light with a courage that is both remarkable and unforgettable. As she summons the strength to investigate her son's troubles - and her own weaknesses - the book quietly builds to its crescendo. But now that BJ has disappeared into a life of crime, she recoils from his loss and is unable to get out of bed, burdened by feelings of invisibility. Left alone to raise her son, Idora has done her best to survive against immense odds.

While she struggled to make ends meet, her deadbeat husband, Bertram, abandoned her for a better life in New York. For four days and nights she retreats into a vortex of memory, pain, and disappointment that becomes a riveting exposÉ of her life as a Caribbean immigrant living abroad. At the news of her son BJ's involvement in gang crime, Idora Morrison, a maid at the local university, collapses in her basement apartment.

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