Sour Hill

‘Gary Allen is the type of poet I admire: he writes with passion and assurance, a poetry which is alive with real character and galvanised by the tensile potency of his language.’ –  Nigel McLoughlin

Sour Hill is a book-length poem set in the townland of the same name in County Antrim., Northern Ireland.

It tells the story of a particular place through the voices of the different peoples who have invaded, settled, lived and died there. The Viking raids, the arrivals of the Moravians, the Irish war of independence, the ‘Troubles’, the encouragement of urbanisation –  all have indelibly marked this once-isolated townlanad.

But these are not mere representatons of impersonal history. Allen explores the individual, idiosyncratic voices of those who have been damaged or corrupted by life.

More than a geographical location, Sour Hill is an interplay of voices - the ghosts that somehow cling on to old houses and woods that have long since disappeared; the Irish servant girls revelling in gossip; congregations steeped in religious faith but content in their hypocrisies; and the public men, the builders, architects and men of business who cleared the land and built public buildings, halls and suburban houses. All have space to tell their story and reveal their truths.

Yet ultimately, Sour Hill is about the indestructibility of the land and the endless adaptability of life itself.