Sources
| Source | ID | Link |
|---|---|---|
| GoodReads | 203481505 | https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203481505 |
| Amazon | 1915022460 | https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915022460 |
Description
“The passage of time is central to this new collection from Brian Kirk, which shifts from an unsentimental portrayal of Irish rural childhood to post-pandemic Dublin, with ‘kids almost grown but the house more crowded than ever’.
Hare’s Breath is a paean to a world bent on self-destruction, yet with dizzying brinkmanship it manages to skirt despair.
With his masterful control of language and astute insight into the human condition, Kirk is both philosopher and chronicler of our time, catching every moment like the titular hare’s breath. An unmistakeable voice, always worth listening to.”
Amanda Bell author of Riptide (Doire Press)
“Brian Kirk’s second collection is a fine balance between the revelation of the hidden and the mystery of the seemingly obvious. Form is important, and so is rhythm and music: this is where his poetry truly excels. Once again, he conjures poems of nature, family, life and love, all of them leavened with an earthy philosophy that dares to stay close to the messy business of living. Community and neighbourliness matter, his poems seek out and reveal to us the ‘base that isn’t there’ in an unexpected lifeline, in the sometimes gruff hand of care. Parents and children, family and friends live and breathe in these vibrant and defiant poems. Relentlessly and honestly, he searches and probes for the truth amid sadness and loss, failure and illusion, and even the outright waste of existence itself. He does not give up, and neither should we: his poetry reckons with the complexity of life and finds and confronts it with skill and inspiration: ‘Then I saw her, shapeshifter, / iambic, limber, crossing the hill.’”
John Murphy author of Zeppelin Vending Machine Manifesto (Salmon Poetry)
“Brian Kirk’s pure intentions illuminate each carefully crafted line of Hare’s Breath. This collection forms a contemporary and moving biography of old ways and geographies disowned until they disappear, as the hard edges of city life impose themselves on the boredoms and dangers of a rural childhood. Brian’s poems hint back in elegy for a writer-friend lost far too young; and for people and places left too soon. But, to quote from ‘The Invisible House’, ‘there will be time for all of us / to find the things we lost along the way, to learn the words of songs / we longed to sing but never had the heart.’ A thoughtful and unexpectedly joyous book.”
Jane Robinson author of Island and Atoll (Salmon Poetry)
Hare’s Breath is a paean to a world bent on self-destruction, yet with dizzying brinkmanship it manages to skirt despair.
With his masterful control of language and astute insight into the human condition, Kirk is both philosopher and chronicler of our time, catching every moment like the titular hare’s breath. An unmistakeable voice, always worth listening to.”
Amanda Bell author of Riptide (Doire Press)
“Brian Kirk’s second collection is a fine balance between the revelation of the hidden and the mystery of the seemingly obvious. Form is important, and so is rhythm and music: this is where his poetry truly excels. Once again, he conjures poems of nature, family, life and love, all of them leavened with an earthy philosophy that dares to stay close to the messy business of living. Community and neighbourliness matter, his poems seek out and reveal to us the ‘base that isn’t there’ in an unexpected lifeline, in the sometimes gruff hand of care. Parents and children, family and friends live and breathe in these vibrant and defiant poems. Relentlessly and honestly, he searches and probes for the truth amid sadness and loss, failure and illusion, and even the outright waste of existence itself. He does not give up, and neither should we: his poetry reckons with the complexity of life and finds and confronts it with skill and inspiration: ‘Then I saw her, shapeshifter, / iambic, limber, crossing the hill.’”
John Murphy author of Zeppelin Vending Machine Manifesto (Salmon Poetry)
“Brian Kirk’s pure intentions illuminate each carefully crafted line of Hare’s Breath. This collection forms a contemporary and moving biography of old ways and geographies disowned until they disappear, as the hard edges of city life impose themselves on the boredoms and dangers of a rural childhood. Brian’s poems hint back in elegy for a writer-friend lost far too young; and for people and places left too soon. But, to quote from ‘The Invisible House’, ‘there will be time for all of us / to find the things we lost along the way, to learn the words of songs / we longed to sing but never had the heart.’ A thoughtful and unexpectedly joyous book.”
Jane Robinson author of Island and Atoll (Salmon Poetry)