The idea of Home is one which Sørensen interrogates again and again throughout these poems. These are poems that  juxtapose the familiar and the foreign, the past and the present, childhood and adulthood.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa has sculpted a fluid hybrid of essay and autofiction to explore the ways in which a life can be changed in response to the discovery of another’s – in this case, Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, famously referred to by Peter Levi as ‘the greatest poem written in either Ireland or Britain during the eighteenth century.’

Perhaps it is in her evocation of these thresholds moments that Sørensen is at her strongest, as in the poem Knives, Forks and Fathers where the speaker is emerging from a post-university haze into an acceptance of her life as an adult: Without looking up, we talk of this and that and it happens – that each of us carefully places our worries for our fathers upon the table between us, amongst the glasses and hands clutching slightly warmed metal and I only know then, finally, that we are no longer children.

In Dream Country she marks herself as a poet of intellect and empathy, resolutely of our times.

As one might imagine, a… ( Log Out /  Her pamphlet of English poems Ouroboros was recently longlisted for The Venture Award (UK). The title poem vividly illustrates the speaker’s experience of settling in a new country, a feeling that will resonate with many readers of Sørensen’s generation: I am here and in my dreams, I am there leaving the trail of crumbs, the pieces of my own puzzle, my life, one night at a time. This poem is concluded deftly and poignantly-. The Arts Council of Ireland has twice awarded her a literature bursary (2011 and 2013). Irish-made tinnitus device cuts symptoms in 80% of patients, Una Mullally: Cancer taught me lessons that can help you cope with the pandemic, Limerick doctor who spoke at anti-mask rally remains defiant, Roddy Doyle: ‘My unpublished first novel was sh*te’, ‘Ross,’ the old man goes, ‘I’m afraid I’ve made a dreadful mistake!’.

We're delighted to present an extract from A Ghost in the Throat (published by Tramp Press), the new book from writer and poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa.. “Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a poet to watch, with a fresh view of the world: apparently ordinary houses, shops, common objects and activities. ( Log Out /  You’ve reached an article that is only available to Irish Times subscribers.

Perhaps the most effective of these is the exquisite short poem To Bed: Perched as a paper crane at the only still moment of the day, waiting to unfold myself into a blank sheet, ready to be written on by dreams.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Subscribe today and get the full picture for just €1 for the first month. The imagery of these poems often evokes the twilight between sleep and wake; Sørensen  is at ease in explorations of liminality. There is the sense throughout of a woman who has figured out what it means to be alive and who wants others to join her at the party. Dream Country guides the reader through a series of dream-like, often liminal landscapes. We have become used to assuming the role of the emigrant and it is with interest that we read from this perspective. Review: Dream Country (New Island Books, 2013) by Donna Sorensen Dream Country (New Island, 2013) is the début collection of Donna Sørensen. Born and raised in the UK, Sørensen has been living in other countries since 2005, including some time spent living in Dublin.

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