Meet David Butler, a poet whose work resonates with the rhythmic and acoustic richness of language. His landmark poem, Swallows, heralded a new era in his creative journey, earning accolades for its innovative approach and marking Butler’s entry into the esteemed pages of Poetry Ireland Review. This piece not only secured the Ted McNulty Award but also set the tone for Butler’s future explorations into the musicality of words.
Butler’s creative process is one of meticulous cultivation, where fragments and images are nurtured in his mind long before they find their way onto the page. This period of gestation allows for ideas to fully form, which are then arranged and rearranged until the most compelling composition emerges, ‘Composition for me is mainly mental. I’m an insomniac, and much of this free play happens in bed in the small hours of wakefulness.’ His approach exemplifies a dedication to the craft that is both disciplined and open to the organic flow of creativity.
In 2016, Butler embarked on a unique project, an Arts Commission to craft a poem sequence that traced the old railway line around Dublin Bay. This endeavor saw him delve into the multifaceted narratives of geography, ecology, and history, culminating in a poetic homage to the area that was as informed as it was inspired. The collaboration with his brother, a Cambridge-based artist, on this project not only won the World Illustrator’s Award 2017 but also garnered recognition from prestigious institutions worldwide, underscoring the impact of Butler’s poetic vision, the resulting limited, twenty hand-printed publications won the World Illustrator’s Award 2017. Copies have been bought by the Tate, the British and Bodleian Libraries, Yale and Cambridge universities and the NCAD and National Gallery of Ireland.’
Butler’s creative musings are often born in the quiet of the night, a consequence of his insomniac tendencies, where the silence and solitude serve as a canvas for his thoughts. The scenic cliff walk between Bray and Greystones also serves as a muse, offering a space where nature’s grandeur and tranquility fuel his imagination.
Poetry, for Butler, is a medium of immediate and unfiltered expression, a channel through which he navigates the complexities of emotion and experience with a rawness and empathy that might elude his other literary endeavors, ‘I think the poetry took me to places more raw and, ideally, empathetic than (say) a short story I’d written on an Alzheimer’s patient.’ His work, ranging from the contemplative Via Crucis to the introspective Liffey Sequence, showcases a breadth of thematic exploration and emotional depth. The limited edition Blackrock Sequence and his poignant contribution to the Staying Human anthology further highlight Butler’s ability to touch on the universally human through the prism of personal experience.
David Butler’s collections, including All the Barbaric Glass and Via Crucis, stand as testaments to a career dedicated to exploring the boundaries of language and the power of poetry to capture the essence of the human condition.
‘He pitched for a while the bones of a camp in a copse, found it kicked asunder, found it burned out.’
David Butler, Love! His affections do not that way tend…
Let’s abandon the fantasy that survival is glamorous. It’s not some miraculous comeback story or a triumph to be celebrated with applause.
The performance space at The Kings Arms is a relatively modest venue, essentially a large-ish room above a pub that’s well worth
Tulsa is a city that feeds the soul as much as the stomach, and Irish poet Jay Rafferty has captured its essence
The Broken Spine is a poetry and arts collective proudly published on the coastal edge of North-West England. Founded in 2019 by Alan Parry and Paul Robert Mullen – two school friends reunited after twenty years through a mutual love of poetry.
