Michael O’Neill reads from his new collection of poetry, Gangs of Shadow. This podcast was recorded at a launch event on 10th June 2014, organised by the Centre for Poetry and Poetics. [MP3 version]
When Michael O’Neill senses ‘gangs / of shadow’ half-beckoning from twilit water, the moment is eerily alluring as well as scary. Fusions of feeling recur throughout a book that has something of the ‘dash’ and ‘darkness’ praised in ‘Louis MacNeice’, along with a strong responsiveness to the physical and visual experience of living. Formally accomplished and alert to change and movement, combining memorable phrasing with a reaching towards the unsayable, Gangs of Shadow brims with imagery of past, present and future; its poems ‘seek to bear witness, and above all sing’.
Gangs of Shadow is available now from Arc Publications, priced from £8.99.
