First published 2014
The poet remembers her younger self discovering enchantment in ordinary places. She finds certainty in small rituals: paddling pools in summer, sherbet dips that fizz on her tongue, yellow roses blooming in the front garden. The radio becomes her companion, its mechanical voice offering escape from the kitchen where it sits. Her curiosity pulls her between what adults promise the world should be and what she actually sees around her. She travels from Salthill to the Aran Islands, visits Venice and San Francisco and Spain, sits through Mass at the local church. But the real magic lives closer to home, hidden in bog fairies and horses, in the gap between expectation and reality. The poet's voice shifts from savage humor to sudden beauty, sometimes elegant, sometimes harsh. Her childhood certainty crumbles and rebuilds as she grows, leaving her caught between wonder and disillusionment.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, 20th-century, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Aran Islands, San Francisco, Salthill, Spain, Venice
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
96 pages · Paperback · Salmon Poetry