A month at the back of my brain: a third memoir

Unlike Kevin Ireland’s earlier memoirs (one of which won a national book award), this is not so much a chronicle of lasting interests and memorable occurrences as a rummage through 30 episodes – one a day, for a month – at the back of his brain. A process he thinks of as ‘gathering up all the reflective wrappers and the tinsel, and describing how, in the setting sun, they glitter with the brilliant romance of nostalgia…’ This unpredictable experiment allows the ordinary and everyday to take a rightful place among the souvenirs of Kevin’s life. It’s all here: childhood shoplifting challenges and trips to the murder house, ruminations on reputable poets and disreputable poseurs, encounters with many a colourful character, madcap adventures in London, stories behind several of Kevin’s poems, a tall tale or two about fishing, and much more… In his 90th year, Kevin no longer believes that the high points of an existence are always marked by important events. Overlooked memories return to us in our old age with a new and astonishing energy and with all the buzz of their magic reborn.