Description
Magnum Mysterium is Irish American poet Julie O'Callaghan's first collection since Tell Me This Is Normal: New & Selected Poems (2008). Her new poems have evolved from the early monologues - written in American demotic - to poems of heartache on the death of her husband, the poet Dennis O'Driscoll. But even in these harrowing poems she never loses her ear for the absurdities of modern life - including the grieving process where she can "see" her husband alive and doing what he loves ('Cyber You'): I need to see you living and breathing. I go to YouTube and there you are being you (the tiny you) with the tie I bought you for Christmas sitting on a chair on a stage in Santa Fe asking Seamus questions. Eternally. In Magnum Mysterium Julie O'Callaghan has continued writing poems which 'seem effortless and are immediately accessible and achieve great emotional weight by the lightest of means' (Michael Hartnett Award citation).
About the Author
Born in Chicago in 1954, Julie O'Callaghan has lived in Ireland since 1974. Her collections of poetry include Edible Anecdotes (Dolmen Press, 1983), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; What's What (Bloodaxe Books, 1991), a Poetry Book Society Choice; No Can Do (Bloodaxe Books, 2000), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; Tell Me This Is Normal: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; and Magnum Mysterium, is published by Bloodaxe in 2020. Her books of poetry for older children include Taking My Pen for a Walk (Orchard Books, 1988), Two Barks (Bloodaxe Books, 1998) and The Book of Whispers (Faber & Faber, 2006). She has received the Michael Hartnett Award for poetry and is a member of the Irish academy of arts, Aosdana.
Reviews
These poems are agile, heartfelt and original. They expand with repeated readings, earning the reader's trust as they echo voices that are recognisable all around us, if not within us as well. -- Leslie Ullman * Poetry *
O'Callaghan's subtle ear for the intonations of speech, her appalled delight in the things language is made to do in our consumer-crazed era...and her shrewd handling of line-endings mark her as a true poet, someone with an almost deranged interest in the possibilities and impossibilities of words. -- Patrick Crotty * The Irish Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9781780375144
Author Julie O'Callaghan
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Publisher Bloodaxe Books Ltd
About the Author
Born in Chicago in 1954, Julie O'Callaghan has lived in Ireland since 1974. Her collections of poetry include Edible Anecdotes (Dolmen Press, 1983), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; What's What (Bloodaxe Books, 1991), a Poetry Book Society Choice; No Can Do (Bloodaxe Books, 2000), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; Tell Me This Is Normal: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; and Magnum Mysterium, is published by Bloodaxe in 2020. Her books of poetry for older children include Taking My Pen for a Walk (Orchard Books, 1988), Two Barks (Bloodaxe Books, 1998) and The Book of Whispers (Faber & Faber, 2006). She has received the Michael Hartnett Award for poetry and is a member of the Irish academy of arts, Aosdana.
Reviews
These poems are agile, heartfelt and original. They expand with repeated readings, earning the reader's trust as they echo voices that are recognisable all around us, if not within us as well. -- Leslie Ullman * Poetry *
O'Callaghan's subtle ear for the intonations of speech, her appalled delight in the things language is made to do in our consumer-crazed era...and her shrewd handling of line-endings mark her as a true poet, someone with an almost deranged interest in the possibilities and impossibilities of words. -- Patrick Crotty * The Irish Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9781780375144
Author Julie O'Callaghan
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Publisher Bloodaxe Books Ltd
