Written in memory of her mother, who died of motor neurone disease in 2012, the poems of Requiem roughly cover the timespan of an illness, death, and burial. The formal structure is based on the Catholic Requiem Mass as it has been set as a choral piece by Giuseppe Verdi, Gabriel Faure, Maurice Durufle, and many others. The poems quote from other classical and folk works about the underworld and the passage into death, juxtaposing the engagement with the old text with modern references.

Winner of the Poetry Book Society Spring Pamphlet Choice.

2. Kyrie

Lord have mercy upon her
Christ have mercy upon her
Day have mercy upon her
Night have mercy upon her

Bed have mercy upon her
Hoist have mercy upon her
Catheter have mercy upon her
Needle have mercy upon her

Gastrostomy have mercy upon her
Citalopram have mercy upon her
Riluzole have mercy upon her
Morphine have mercy upon her [...]

About the Author
Based in Berlin, Siofra McSherry was born in Newry, Northern Ireland. She earned her PhD in American Literature from the Freie Universitat Berlin in 2017. Siofra completed a BA English at the University of Oxford and received her MA from University College London. She has published her poems in anthologies including The Salt Book of Younger Poets (Salt 2011), Bird Book (Sidekick Books 2011) Sylvia is Missing (Flarestack 2012) and journals including Poetry Wales, Poems in Which, Foam:e, Abraxas, and Hysteria. Emma Dai'an Wright (1986) is a British-Chinese-Vietnamese publisher and illustrator. She worked in ebook production at Orion Publishing Group before leaving in 2012 to set up The Emma Press with the support of the Prince's Trust. She has since published over 500 writers across more than 70 books, including poetry anthologies for adults and children, short stories, and translations. In 2016 The Emma Press won the Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlet Publishers. She lives in Birmingham.


Book Information
ISBN 9781912915408
Author Siofra McSherry
Format Paperback
Page Count 36
Imprint The Emma Press
Publisher The Emma Press