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Holy Things
Holy Things is the debut poetry chapbook of Jay Rafferty, and is the fourth chapbook to be published by The Broken Spine.
This book and the poems in it are an exploration of faith in love, in sex, the political, the scientific, the philosophical and the spiritual. It also contains a suprising amount of pigs.
This book and the poems in it are an exploration of faith in love, in sex, the political, the scientific, the philosophical and the spiritual. It also contains a suprising amount of pigs.
23 pages, Paperback
Published March 20, 2022
2 people want to read
About the author
Jay Rafferty
5 booksJay Rafferty is a redhead, an uncle and an eejit. He is a guest lecturer on Irish Literature and poetry . He is also the author of three published chapbooks, Holy Things (The Broken Spine, 2022), Strange Magic (Alien Buddha Press, 2022) & All That's Between Us is Time (Alien Buddha Press, 2024). You can read his poetry, essays and reviews in several journals including Winecellar Press, An Áitiúil Anthology, Unstamatic, Daily Drunk Magazine, FU Review Berlin, Handpicked Poetry and HOWL New Irish Writing. When not losing games of pool he, sometimes, writes stuff. You can follow him on Twitter @JayRaffertyPoet or Instagram @SimplyRedInTheHead.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 21, 2022
Jay’s book is striking and unforgettable. Infused in these pages is a talent that can swing from a hilarious account of the Big Bang or Lucifer farting in the Pope’s Vestry to grave concerns of atrocities committed by the hands of the cloth. Throughout his spellbinding chapbook, Rafferty moves from the personal to the universal, from the tender to the sardonic to the downright silly with astounding ease and finesse.
Jay tears the roof off the church and finds all manner of complexity, contradiction, and absurdity, and he brings all of these to our attention with scathing wit and biting humour. However, this is not simply a text of criticism, and Rafferty finishes his book with the Bible’s words of spreading love, and we are reminded that it is the simple expressions of the heart that are most sacred.
Jay builds an altar for the fervent and impulsive nature of “the unspeakable, that the flesh gives up without / thought or fault.” Like sacramental bread, Rafferty breaks open all the “unmentionables” in life, all the messy and dirty imperfections and embarrassments - the unholy - and makes them holy, and that’s the miraculous work of a creator.
- David Hanlon, author of Spectrum of Flight
Jay tears the roof off the church and finds all manner of complexity, contradiction, and absurdity, and he brings all of these to our attention with scathing wit and biting humour. However, this is not simply a text of criticism, and Rafferty finishes his book with the Bible’s words of spreading love, and we are reminded that it is the simple expressions of the heart that are most sacred.
Jay builds an altar for the fervent and impulsive nature of “the unspeakable, that the flesh gives up without / thought or fault.” Like sacramental bread, Rafferty breaks open all the “unmentionables” in life, all the messy and dirty imperfections and embarrassments - the unholy - and makes them holy, and that’s the miraculous work of a creator.
- David Hanlon, author of Spectrum of Flight
March 24, 2022
This book is an irreverent exploration of love, Catholic guilt, and faith.
Rafferty refuses to shy away from the major themes that cannot be reasonably brushed under the carpet any longer. He takes square aim at the Pope and all that office represents. The good and the bad. But this is not the ranting testimony of a lapsed Catholic; rather, it's an informed investigation.
Rafferty has lived and breathed every word of this text. Few poets offer this much of themselves up to the reader. Especially emerging writers and those producing their debut collections. I've never been as confused as I was reading this when attempting to draw the line between Rafferty the writer, and his poet-speaker. I'm of the opinion that here, they are one and the same. You can sense that the rage is genuine, and the tenderness its equal.
One ought to remember that Rafferty was an undergraduate student when this was penned, not a seasoned and mature writer as it might feel.
I've said it before and I stand by it, books like this one get banned!
Rafferty refuses to shy away from the major themes that cannot be reasonably brushed under the carpet any longer. He takes square aim at the Pope and all that office represents. The good and the bad. But this is not the ranting testimony of a lapsed Catholic; rather, it's an informed investigation.
Rafferty has lived and breathed every word of this text. Few poets offer this much of themselves up to the reader. Especially emerging writers and those producing their debut collections. I've never been as confused as I was reading this when attempting to draw the line between Rafferty the writer, and his poet-speaker. I'm of the opinion that here, they are one and the same. You can sense that the rage is genuine, and the tenderness its equal.
One ought to remember that Rafferty was an undergraduate student when this was penned, not a seasoned and mature writer as it might feel.
I've said it before and I stand by it, books like this one get banned!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews