Fail Again Fail Even Better

The Struggles of an Obscure Irish Poet

By: Karl MacDermott

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Paperback | 28 October 2025

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In the pantheon of great Irish poets, Bosco Helly would be nowhere near that pantheon. But what he lacks in talent, technical skill, emotional depth and authenticity he makes up for in persistence. Over the years, possessing a Sisyphean stubbornness, he has published nearly forty volumes of poetry. However, feeling an ever-increasing disconnect with the modern world and wearying of decades of public indifference and critical contempt, he has decided that his latest volume will be his last.

As he attempts to finish this ultimate collection, Bosco engages in a trip and tumble-down memory lane, recalls the great love of his life Luna, shares his concerns about ageing and introduces us to his circle of artistically unfulfilled friends living in that eternal bastion of blather, Dublin.

An at times, uproarious insight into a life misdirected towards the arts, Fail Again Fail Even Better is a hymn to all underachievers, a paean to creative pain, but most importantly, a full-throated if slightly off-key aria about the endurance of the human spirit.

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