Massacre of the Birds [Paperback]

The range of poems in Massacre of the Birds moves from an encounter with water creatures in Hanging House in a Canal to the appearance of a satyr in ODonnells back garden in Muse. Mythic nature abounds, but wake-up calls to social denial also appear in #MeToo: 12 Remembered Scenes and a Line and It Wasnt a Woman. She speaks of the endangered biosphere, of losses incurred by forced migration, but also about the attritions of time in a mother-daughter relationship. A beautiful collection from one of our most accomplished poets.At last a proper creative response to our times. With the most gracious authority, Mary ODonnell speaks truth into the storm of wounds mankind is causing to nature and the feminine. These poems witness the grace of wing tilt and wind, and map where we stand on the lakeshore of conscience as natures vanishing happens all around us. As the collection progresses Massacre of the Birds successfully charts the full spectrum of female experience. Here are the lyrical, sensuous spaces of our intimacies. And here too is a bold, political reckoning of the many painful injustices women have suffered for too long. ODonnells work is a deeply satisfying fusion of poignancy and forthright power; her poems are both a healing for our ills, and a vital demand for action.-GRACE WELLSWhat I admire most about Mary ODonnells poetry is the way she reaches beyond her formidable Irish roots to embrace, aesthetically and thematically, a global poetic that joins hands with Adrienne Rich, Federico Garc?a Lorca and Tomas Transtr?mer. She blends the sensual with the mystical, the exotic with images from home. From finding the transcendent in something as simple as trying on a pair of sandals, to allowing imaginations flight in dancing to Cuban rhythms/ rum on my tongue,/a reek of skin, all body,/ burning upMary ODonnell takes us along with her on the journey of a life rooted in tradition, but too large to be contained.-RICHARD KRAWIECIn her nlãâ