“Anne Walsh Donnelly is by far the most daring poet to emerge in Ireland of late. The starkly honest and overt sexuality which pervades Anne’s poetry make the work of pretty much all her contemporaries appear repressed and backward-looking in comparison. This publication would certainly have been banned in the Ireland of the past. Indeed, she is one of the few poets around whose work has the glorious ability to get moralistic, supposedly liberal eyebrows twitching. Anne’s poems are pretty perfectly formed hand grenades which she tosses about the place with abandon while maintaining a deadpan face. I think this publication is the beginning of something great.” Kevin Higgins, author of Song of Songs 2.0: New & Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry, 2017).
«Anne Walsh Donnelly is a brave poet who writes with integrity. To my mind she is among the strongest of the new voices to emerge in Irish poetry in the past decade. On first reading her work, you are left with the impression that ideas come to the poet fully formed. Her style is simple, often writing in the colloquial, but when examined closely, the true craft of the work emerges. In this volume Anne documents her own journey of self discovery in a frank, open and glorious fashion. It may bruise the sensibilities of some but will be a joy to most.» Dave Kavanagh: Editor. The Blue Nib.
This life-affirming poetry collection reflects on the author's growth since the ending of her marriage and what it means to unearth one's true sexual orientation, in mid-life. Anne Walsh Donnelly's intimate exploration of sexuality and identity is both brave and touching, marking this debut collection as a triumph.
