An Bhé Ghlas

An Bhé Ghlas: 112 pages; paperback; 978-1-909907-56-0

Poetry at its most acute resists outdated assertions and dulled assumptions. In this sense, Cathal Ó Searcaigh’s latest collection An Bhé Ghlas is at the cutting edge of awareness. It is a collection imbued with a keen vision of renewal and an openness to experience. Poetry of this kind is about seeing.

An elegant and an entirely original collection

The poet is the seer par excellence, the challenger to our conformities. It is an elegant and an entirely original collection that enriches our understanding of these turbulent times we live in. Ó Searcaigh is being lifted emotionally and imaginatively beyond his own life into the life of all, into immense existence.

Tapping into deep archetypal, communal and individual sources

An Bhé Ghlas is a collection of politically-charged poems that range from the Palestinian issue to human-earth relations. It is a volume that gives credence to the idea of our bondedness with all creation.

“If Ó Searcaigh digs deep, he also digs wide. Arabic poetry, the poetry of Li Bai, innumerable references to the Gaelic song tradition, these and other sources are all part of his poetic context… He is tapping — in the literal sense — into deep archetypal, communal and individual sources, and the poetry is correspondingly rich and deep.” — Paddy Bushe, Poetry Ireland