In this arresting first collection, Steven O’Brien, of Irish and Welsh origins, demonstrates his gift at penetrating into the heart of human experience, and converting it to song. This at times bravely raw, at times celebratory collection that veers between eulogy and elegy treads areas of experience that few poets dare.
"Steven O’Brien’s voice includes bardic splendour, ballad vigour, the professional storyteller’s magnetism, and the presence of a deep humanism that never fails to celebrate the music and the mystery of life. O’Brien travels through centuries and cultures, and emerges with his own lucid, complex voice."
Brendan Kennelly
"Steven O’Brien’s poems keep us in touch with archaic and submerged energies which we are in danger of losing. A striking first collection."
Peter Abbs
Steven O’Brien, born in 1963, grew up singing with his Welsh and Irish family. He lives in Worthing and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth. He is now editor of The London Magazine and has had another collection published by Greenwich Exchange.