Description
Book SynopsisMagnum 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).
Trade ReviewThese 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 *
Table of Contents11 Island Life 12 Sitting in a Cloud 13 Voyage 14 After Gulliver 16 Maximum Car Wash 17 Zen Christmas 18 Norman Rockwell’s Apples 19 Riddle 20 No Longer with Us 21 Horse Power 22 The Day 23 Floating World 24 Headlights 25 The Bridge-Tender I Didn’t Call Dad 26 News 27 Beside Me 28 Unfunny 29 Last 4th 30 Stay 31 Ship 32 Garden Daydream 33 Bruisers with Groceries 34 Ice Age 35 Seasonal Affective Disorder 36 Distant Memory 37 New Year’s Omens 38 Hidden 41 21st Century Pillow Book 45 Departure Drama 46 Mother in a Twister 47 Broken 48 Call 49 Early on Indian Hill 50 Teensy Tomatoes 51 Perfect World 52 Festivities 53 Purchasing Vittles 54 At Whole Foods 55 Nuclear Bombs 56 A Cabin in the Berkshires 59 United Nations 60 Peaceful Valley 61 Check the Fridge 62 Mystery 63 Babu will show you to your room After Dennis O’Driscoll 67 Magnum Mysterium 74 Alien 75 Abandoned 76 Me & Our House 77 Dreams 78 Vow 79 Dictation 80 Here 81 Pup 82 Pygmalion 83 Ultimate Skellig 84 Hidden Words 85 Faith 86 Cyber You 87 You in Mid-air 88 It’ll Be OK 89 Vinegar 90 Our Cliff 91 Aghadoe 92 After Dennis O’Driscoll
