Conamara Blues

In this new collection of poetry John ODonohue explores the natural and emotional landscape of his native Conamara County revealing a pastoral vision that is both personal and universal mystical and of this world. ODonohues instinctive awareness of the contrasts of his land -- its places of light and darkness its movements and its stillness -- is magically brought to life in his richly lyrical yet deceptively transparent language. Translating the beauty and splendor of Conamara into a language exquisitely attuned to the wonder of the everyday ODonohue takes us on a moving journey through real and imagined worlds. Divided into three parts -- Approachings Encounters and Distances -- Conamara Blues at once reawakens a sense of intimacy with the natural world and a feeling of wonder at the mystery of our relationship to this world. Whether exploring the silent eternal memory of Conamara or focusing on the power of language and the vagaries of human need and passion ODonohue tenderly reveals the fragile vulnerability of love andfriendship. The result is a musical transcendent and deeply moving series of poems that exemplifies ODonohue at his finest. Written with penetrating insight and distilled transparence Conamara Blues offers a singular and lasting imaginative vision of a landscape of hope and possibility -- powerfully exhibiting the mastery of a poet at the height of his lyric powers.