The Reed Bed

by Dermot Healy

This new collection of poetry should appeal to the same readers. Healy's poetry distils the essence of a gift he exercises to such success in his prose works: narrative, dialogue, characterization, and an acute sense of insight and observation. These new poems are set in and around his home on the ocean's edge of Sligo, in London, and further afield -- he captures the day's "small habits" and "ordinary dramas, " noting at the same time the hallway "where something is after happening." Rough-edged and refreshing, The Reed Bed displays further instances of idiosyncratic comedy and convinces us of a singular capacity to be at once visionary, quirky, and moving.

Genres: Poetry

79 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Dermot Healy (born 1947 in Finnea, County Westmeath, Ireland) was an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He won the Hennessy Award (1974 and 1976), the Tom Gallon Award (1983), and the Encore Award (1995). In 2011, he was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award for his poetry collection, A Fool's Errand.

Healy was a member of Aosdána and of its governing body, the Toscaireacht, and lived in County Sligo, Ireland.

Reviews

[Sharon Bruni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful evocations of deeply observed moments of place and time; the fresh grave of one’s dog, the tired feet of one’s mother and the familiar landscape of home find resonance and communion with the reader.

[Ade Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lovely poems here which I will return to frequently, but I was disappointed with some which seemed little more than quirky observations which left me wondering what I was missing after I had wondered what on earth they were doing in a poetry collection.