Doire Press, 2021

Written in the years between Bell’s debut collection from Doire Press and its publication date during the covid pandemic, Riptide exemplifies the relentlessly transforming trajectories of our lives.

As the title suggests, the sea is a recurrent theme.

The collection comprises a combination of poems and haibun, and is punctuated between each section by a haiku. Threaded through the book is a series of poems about Edward Munch, based on a trip to Oslo Amanda took at the invitation of the Prix de Norvège Society, where she met with Munch’s niece, and visited a series of sites around Oslo associated with the artist. Dipping in and out of familial relationships, the book is dedicated to the author’s daughters.

It includes the poem ‘Donald Teskey, Ballinglen’, a response to paintings the artist produced in North Mayo. The poem was used as the colophon of a boxed set of carborundum prints donated to Ballinglen Arts Museum by Donald Teskey RHA, whose painting ‘Plaga III’ is used as the cover image.