Considered by some the most important English-language poet born since WWII, Paul Muldoon writes an ingenious, allusive and musical verse that is extremely playful yet also capable of high seriousness. Born in Northern Ireland, he worked in Belfast as a radio and television producer for the BBC from 1973 until 1986; since then he has lived in the United States, where he teaches at Princeton University. In 2003 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his ninth collection, Moy Sand and Gravel.
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The Loaf
When I put my finger to the hole they've cut for a dimmer switch
in a wall of plaster stiffened with horsehair
it seems I've scratched a two-hundred-year-old itch
with a pink and a pink and a pinkie-pick.
When I put my ear...
Hedgehog
The snail moves like a
Hovercraft, held up by a
Rubber cushion of itself,
Sharing its secret
With the hedgehog. The hedgehog
Shares its secret with no one.
We say, Hedgehog, come out
Of yourself and we will love you.
We mean no harm. We want
Only to listen...