Petrol

by Martina Evans

"A drama in anti-prosody, an interior female poetry of Cork life; here the world turns upon a pub, a petrol pump and an impossible love . . . a world is transfixed by personal drama, by epiphanies in bars and Icebergs, Aztecs and Bloody Marys creating a kind of alcoholic, consumerist birdlife that sings above the human drama. Evans' imagination is a unique one, darting, flitting, resonating with personal and poetic voices. As a poet she is one of a kind and brilliant."—Thomas McCarthy But I can't believe Justin would confide in you, Agnes said. But, you are the one Justin said under the lilac tree, you are the one to make Clodagh feel at home with your books and your love of flowers. I started watering the geraniums and straight away they were pointing their buds at me. In this prose poem disguised as a novella, thirteen-year-old Imelda thinks she's killed her mother by wishing she was dead. She doesn't want to wish the same fate on Justin, her mercurial and controlling twice-widowed father, owner of McConnell's bar, shop, and gas station. When Imelda's older sisters Bertha and Agnes disapprove of Justin's new fiancée, Justin elevates Imelda to the position of temporary favorite. Nobody including Imelda herself can believe her luck will last since Agnes is his true favorite. Besides, Justin can't stand Imelda's admirer, Danny Boy, her sisters are jealous, and Neily Sheehan, owner of the rival JFK Bar, is waiting for his chance to bring Justin down. 

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

Martina Evans is an Irish poet and novelist living in London. The youngest of ten children, she grew up in a small village in County Cork in a pub, shop and petrol station.
She is the author of three published novels, the first novel Midnight Feast (Sinclair-Stevenson 1996) which won a Betty Trask Award, The Glass Mountain (Sinclair-Stevenson 1997) and No Drinking, No Doctors, No Dancing (Bloomsbury 2000) which won an Arts Council of England Award .
She also the author of four collections of poetry, including Facing the Public 2009 which was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2009 and won the Piero Ciampi International Poetry Prize in 2011. Her latest book , Petrol was published by Anvil Press in 2012.

Reviews

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told in a series of vibrant and funny prose poems, Petrol describes the summer following the death of Imelda's mother. Imelda is trying to find her place beside two older sisters, a grandfather with seventeen cats, and a father who runs the bar and petrol station of the title, and who has acquired a new fiancee. Martina Evans' deft, detailed prose-poems brilliantly capture the inner life of Imelda, and the sweets, friendships, books and TV shows that make up her world. Evans explores the vivid emotions of early adolescence, as well as hidden grief and despair. A captivating and moving book that can be devoured in a few hours, but remains in the mind.

[Jimi McDonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary