Polite Forms was written between January, 2008 and June, 2011. Although the whole sequence is, perhaps self-evidently, it is a meditation on family life written from the perspective of a man in his early fifties.
Polite Forms – The Hairpiece – Nana – Expedience – Box Three, Spool Five – Writing –Proper Nouns – Strictly Private – Pray for the Wanderer – Vestments – Dead Languages – AZH 402 – Bardolino – A Musical Life – My Remarkable Uncle – Something Blue from the Pines – Intolerance – A War Miniature – The Nature of Things – The Music Makers – The Back Gardens – Bucket and Spade – The Rider – Captain Extra Mild – Notices – School-Going – Junior Infants – The Conventions – Night Prayers – Sunday Mass – Radio Sounds – Avenues – Fathers and Sons – In Herbert Park – Swimming Lessons – Lost Things – A Loanword – A Farm Visit – The Girl in the Frame – The Men Who Left – Messages – Wedding Photos – Notes and Acknowledgements.
