Asking for Directions - A Review

Well not exactly a review, a notice in the September issue of Books Ireland in their First Flush section, a survey of the books received since last issue. (A listing here does not preclude a fuller review.)

Asking for Directions. Michael Farry. Doghouse. 61 pp €12 pb 19 cm +0-9565280-9-4. Farry is a retired teacher originally from county Sligo but now living in Meath. He is also an historian who has written three books on the history of Sligo with a fourth due out this year. As a poet he helped establish the Boyne Writers' Group and edits their magazine, Boyne Berries. As well as this he is an award winning stamp collector and race walker. With the exception of two sections, ‘western trilogy’ and ‘travellers’, these are stand-alone poems. They reflect the life and travels of the poet with titles such as ‘Fuerteventura 2008’ and ‘British Museum’. Even when contemplating the most serious subjects, such as his own death, Farry manages to raise a smile and the poems are marked throughout with a dry humour.   

Hmmm I like that last remark.The other volumes issued by Doghouse Books this year get similar mentions - Slow Mysteries by Monica Corish, The Angels' Share by Barbara Smith, Outward and Return by Gréagóir Ó Dúill and Rus in Urbe by James Lawless

By coincidence my forthcoming history book is mentioned twice in the same issue. Once in the Forthcoming in Autumn section and in a half page Four Courts Press advertisement for new titles on the title page of the magazine. Should be ready mid-October.