For ‘text’ read ‘textile’: Paul Muldoon’s poetic weaving

This article examines Muldoon’s use of two textile metaphors – firstly, poetry as weaving and secondly, the politics and poetics of flax and linen. By looking at the textile objects in Muldoon’s poetry it is hoped that some of the textual ideas that lie behind them will be unveiled. To this end, Muldoon’s criticism and interviews are considered alongside intertextual references and detailed readings of two texts, ‘Errata’ from the collection Hay, and ‘Glad Rags’, a prose poem written as part of a collaborative project with the Belfast-born artist, Rita Duffy.