Description
Felicia’s poems are rooted in the living world and are both luminous and sensuous – she enlightens us of the human condition, affirming us always as to what it is to be alive with wisdom and compassion.
— Menna Elfyn, poet and playwright of Wales
These are the best sort of poems, written with a steely and yet gracious authority. Felicia McCarthy has a rare, rich voice, brimming with life, experience and empathy. The one word, the only word to describe her writing is strong. And this strong collection arrives right on time, it being the strong medicine the world needs.
— Grace Wells, poet Ireland & UK
In language both sensual and stark, Felicia McCarthy’s poems explore possibilities of re-invention for individuals, species, landscapes. Her work combines the classic American belief in second acts with a woman’s intuitive understanding of the pain and courage involved in birth, and in rebirth. McCarthy’s voice is flecked with humour, grounded by experience, compelling in its warmth and honesty. Her poems are good company in challenging times.
— Susan Millar DuMars, author
Felicia McCarthy is the best thing for feminist poetry since Adrienne Rich.
— Liz Quirke, Salmon poet, Ireland
About the most important thing of all – the poetry itself – I have nothing but praise. Drawing on the multiple layered inspirations of history and ancestral memory, the patient strength of the female, and motherhood in its various guises, including Mother Nature herself, this is poetry of elegance and substance. In short, this is a hugely varied and impressive collection.
— Denise O’Hagan, poet and publisher, Australia
In poems that are either lusciously lyrical or powerfully narrative, McCarthy embraces a world where “The mind drifts away, as it must,/finds something that is beautiful/… keep us tethered to earth.” She tethers us both to ancestors––a gypsy shaman, her grandmother, and mother––as well as to mythical figures like Persephone, Picasso’s women, Charon’s wife, and Medea.
— Carolyn Martin, Ph.D, poet, editor of KOSMOS Journal – Journal of Global Transformation USA
POET BIO:
Felicia McCarthy is a poet, editor, features’ writer and essayist living in Dublin. Her work has been published in print and online in Ireland, the UK, USA and Mexico. She would like to acknowledge The Irish Arts Council Agility grant which greatly assisted in the completion of this manuscript.