The Pop-up Book of Invasions

by Fiona Farrell

Offering poems that draw vividly on the landscape, history, and mythology of Ireland—while making connections with her home and childhood—this collection of poems reflects the author's personal journey and the many "invasions" of past and present. She adapts and transforms several ancient Irish texts, rewriting their stories for a contemporary world.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Fiona Farrell, ONZM (born 1947) is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer and playwright.

Reviews

[Jessica]

Girls laugh and delight
at the coming of spring.
But I, an old woman,
have sorrows to sing.

　　 　　 　　 　 　　　 　　⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

You ever read something and realise almost instantly that it's Just Not Your Cup Of Tea? This is one of those occasions. I found this all pretty samey and boring - if you read one poem, you'd read them all. I was expecting something a bit more historical and structured, based on the title (my own fault for making assumptions!) and so was not in the right mindset for this at all.

Farrell's translation of The Lament of the Nun of Beare and her poem Bed are by far the two stand-outs of this collection. Everything else melded together into a big blur, unfortunately.

1.5 stars.

[scarlettraces]

lyrically matter-of-fact poetry. i liked the list poems particularly.