The publication of Dublin-born Paul Perry's first collection of poems in 2003 saw him heralded as "a prodigiously gifted poet" by Fred D'Aguiar, for whom each poem "bristles with life and longing, intelligence and wit".
The Orchid Keeper (2006) saw that promise confirmed by a book of almost ceaseless motion, energised by the rhythms of thought and navigating between the confessional and the visionary.
Taking its title from the defensive arms which, like everything else, vanished with the doomed late 16th century settlement at Roanoke, Perry's new collection explores memory and trace, the stories that survive us and those in which we do not always recognise ourselves. From meditations inspired by historical events to poems which treat of a brother's illness, Perry's imagination ranges freely through these predominately short-lined poems, resulting in work which is as lively on the page as it is likely to remain in the reader's memory.
"Like W.S. Merwin, Mr. Perry seems to have a unique talent for closing lines that open numerous possibilities of meaning while suggesting something absolute, such as fate in this case... Throughout the collection, there are multiple examples of dazzling, sonorous lines that demonstrate an impressive understanding of the contours and rhythms of the language."
Ward 6 Review
Paul Perry was born in Dublin in 1972. He has won the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award and The Listowel Prize for Poetry and has been a James Michener Fellow of Creative Writing at The University of Miami, and a Cambor Fellow of Poetry at The University of Houston.
The Orchid Keeper (2006) saw that promise confirmed by a book of almost ceaseless motion, energised by the rhythms of thought and navigating between the confessional and the visionary.
Taking its title from the defensive arms which, like everything else, vanished with the doomed late 16th century settlement at Roanoke, Perry's new collection explores memory and trace, the stories that survive us and those in which we do not always recognise ourselves. From meditations inspired by historical events to poems which treat of a brother's illness, Perry's imagination ranges freely through these predominately short-lined poems, resulting in work which is as lively on the page as it is likely to remain in the reader's memory.
"Like W.S. Merwin, Mr. Perry seems to have a unique talent for closing lines that open numerous possibilities of meaning while suggesting something absolute, such as fate in this case... Throughout the collection, there are multiple examples of dazzling, sonorous lines that demonstrate an impressive understanding of the contours and rhythms of the language."
Ward 6 Review
Paul Perry was born in Dublin in 1972. He has won the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award and The Listowel Prize for Poetry and has been a James Michener Fellow of Creative Writing at The University of Miami, and a Cambor Fellow of Poetry at The University of Houston.