The Boy with No Face

by Kevin Higgins

Higgins, Kevin. The Boy With No Face. First Edition. Cliffs of Moher, Salmon, 2005. Octavo. 69 pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Kevin Higgins (born 1967 in London) is an Irish poet. Since the mid-nineties he has lived in Galway. With his wife Susan Millar DuMars, he co-organises the Over The Edge literary events in Galway City. He also facilitates poetry workshops at the Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute' and was recently Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser and, with Michael S. Begnal, was a founding co-editor of The Burning Bush literary magazine. Higgins is primarily a satirical poet. His poetry is discussed in Justin Quinn’s Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry. (Wikipedia).

Genres: Poetry

69 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2005

Reviews

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin Higgins is widely published and has performed his poetry across the world. His is a politically engaged poetry, shot through with both humour and melancholy. He describes the slightly grubby details of what passes for real life for many people between work and settling down to watch the television. He is all too aware of the precariousness of society and the communities we live in, and not afraid to tackle politics. The political poems are always thought provoking, though often lack lyricism - as is often the case in political poetry. However, poetry like this needs to be heard, to wake people up to what is happening around them — there are perhaps too few politically engaged poets today. I think that in a performance context, the energy of performance will make up for the perceived lack of lyricism on the page. Some of the more personal poems in the collection offer some real moments of beauty.