Published by Picador in 2020, The M Pages is Bryce’s fifth collection. It’s an incredibly moving collection of poems where the poet grapples with the unexpected death of a relative in a central sequence ‘The M Pages’, the nucleus around from which the other poems draw energy. Death opens the collection in the oddly puckishContinue reading “The M Pages: Reviewed”
Tag Archives: book blog
Constellations
Constellations Winner of the prize for Non-fiction Book of the Year at the 2020 Irish Book Awards, Sinéad Gleeson’s Constellations is a series of essays and vignettes about living with chronic pain and what happens when the body starts to give up. It’s a book primarily about the importance of the body and how itContinue reading “Constellations”
Gerard Smyth: The Mirror Tent Review
Smyth’s sixth collection is one with its gaze focused backwards. Many of the poems are a means of preserving memories in print. While this could mean too heavy a dollop of nostalgia, Smyth avoids the saccharine through the vivacity of his images. In the first of the four sections, memories jump into the reader’s consciousnessContinue reading “Gerard Smyth: The Mirror Tent Review”
‘The Wild Silence’ Raynor Winn Reviewed
Sequel to the wonderful The Salt Path, The Wild Silence is Raynor Winn’s second book. Similarly autobiographical in tone, this book picks up shortly after The Salt Path finishes. From the opening chapter, we’re thrown straight back into the natural world as we meet Ray again. Her and Moth have started on their new livesContinue reading “‘The Wild Silence’ Raynor Winn Reviewed”
‘Morning in the Burned House’ by Margaret Atwood Reviewed
This collection by Atwood explores the view of femininity and female experience. Like her famous novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ there’s a real sense of anger, offset by a directness and black humour. It is divided into a number of stages. It opens with a draining sense of ennui, illustrated in phrases such as “the centuryContinue reading “‘Morning in the Burned House’ by Margaret Atwood Reviewed”
Wintering by Katherine May Reviewed
This book is a study of one woman’s management of her depression. Covering October to March, it’s a meditation on life that examines how we can anchor ourselves in the natural world to cope with the demands of modern society. May sets out her manifesto in the prologue: “Everyone winters at one time or another;Continue reading “Wintering by Katherine May Reviewed”
‘Safe Home’ by Mícheál McCann Review
Mícheál McCann’s debut pamphlet ‘Safe Home’ was published by Green Bottle Press in 2020. From the opening mini-sequence ‘Études’, there’s a strong sense of musicality and cadence. There’s also a strong instance of McCann’s signature knack of rooting even the grandiose to the everyday when the poem moves from the beauty of the orchestral musicContinue reading “‘Safe Home’ by Mícheál McCann Review”
Lifeboat Press Pamphlets
Kevin Breathnach Morphing Firstly, the aesthetics. These pamphlets are things of beauty – the font, cover design, colour palette – even the weight of the paper is satisfying. Published in 2020, Morphing is Breathnach’s debut pamphlet. The opening poem ‘A Letter from a Number’ is unsettling in its playful use of language, dominated by phrasesContinue reading “Lifeboat Press Pamphlets”
Jacob Polley, Jackself
Winner of the TS Eliot award in 2016, this is Polley’s fourth collection. It’s unsettling from the opening poem ‘The House that Jack Built’, a poem that focuses on destruction. We see time pass through the lifespan of timber – despite how much manipulation humans exert on the wood, it lasts. It’s unnerving to beContinue reading “Jacob Polley, Jackself”
Leontia Flynn, The Radio
The collection opens with a sequence of poems that explore the fragility of the mind. The second poem ‘Alzheimer’s Villanelle’ is an astonishing piece of work. The choice of form is fantastic – the echoes mimic the confusion of the mind and some of the visual descriptions are incredibly visceral, creating a very unsettling feel.Continue reading “Leontia Flynn, The Radio”
Nicola Heaney 