Biography

Amy McAllister is an award-winning poet and actress from the Wild West of Dublin. She has appeared on Channel 4, BBC, ITV, and PBS, as well as in the Oscar-nominated movie Philomena. Amy is a UK Poetry Anti-slam Champion and a member of the Hammer & Tongue UK Slam Final’s winning team, and she holds the Farrago Zoo Award for Best Feature Debut as well as the prestigious Irish Lucky Duck Comedy Award. She has been poet-in-residence for Transport for London and at Bang Said the Gun and has performed alongside John Cooper Clarke, Phill Jupitus, John Hegley, Inua Ellams, Howard Marks, Roger McGough, and T.S. Eliot prize-winner George Szirtes at venues such as Udderbelly, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Royal Festival Hall. Amy has worked as a cleaner, a waitress, a medical superhero, an ice marshal, and – most morally suspectly – as a honey trap for a chain of betting shops. Her debut collection of poetry and pick up lines 'Are You As Single As That Cream?' is published by Burning Eye.

Samples

At Risk He was forever stuffing junior infants In the bottom of the can machine. Like as if their sweetness meant They should be stored amongst the cokes. They seldom cried. Partly out of shock, partly out of glimpsing fizzy drinks they Regularly lifted from the fridge in Jim’s into the trolley Only to be scolded at the checkouts. He liked how cleanly some would fit And often removed their velcroed shoes, arranging them In natural-looking footstep formations Leading to the base of the machine. And once a child was neatly tucked away, He would go back to class and be a better pupil, Sharing out the crayons and Remembering to use the red for hearts And not for shading headwounds. Wintery Thoughts Tonight, as I cram my hot water bottle Back into its pastel lavender fleece After its annual wash, It occurs to me that I will one day Be cramming the arms of some unfortunate baby Into a fleece of a similar colour. I really hope I don’t get cold feet. Mistress He said ‘If I didn’t have this Cold sore I’d kiss you’. I said ‘Is “cold sore” the Nickname you give to your wife?’ We bought the furniture we were Sitting on and I didn’t Keep the receipt. I knew there’d be no need.

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