Poems

Generous selections from each of Medbh McGuckian's five books serve as an introduction to this gloriously gifted- and pioneering - poet, as a stock-taking moment to reconsider her luxuriant constructions, and as a welcome occasion to learn further how to receive the signals of her opulent imagination. The sensual, rhapsodic implications of her early work and the engagement of more recent poems with the politics of her native province represent a convincing vision. Selected Poems marries intellectual and emotional courage with vital language, startling but appropriate images, and beguiling art.