Leaving Henderson County

Dumpster Fire Press presents the poetry of John Doyle"In this age of insta-poetry and "rhymin'-all-the-timin'" spoken word it is a great pleasure to read a poet who understands that before there is art there must first be craft, John Doyle is one of those poets. His new book "Leaving Henderson County" glitters like well-polished crystal, each individual poem contributing to a fierce, beautiful and clever collection. The poems are by turn deeply personal, scathingly funny and at times achingly sad (there is a particularly lovely little poem "as Ghaelige" which made my heart glad!). They all carry that makers mark of familiarity, the common experience hiding quietly in the individual one, the sign of a truly fine poet writing truly fine poems. He is a poet who loves language and language in its turn loves him, those many years of hard work mastering this tricky, slippery, nebulous, back breaking thing we call Poetry has now repaid him with poems that appear effortless and charmed but that speak to a writer operating at the top of his game. He writes in an often surreal style peppered with images that sear and arrest, he can be Beckett or Joyce as in "taking all the words out or putting all the words in" but he really is his own man and the quality of his style is his and his alone. Don't just take my word for it, get yourself a copy, find a quiet place and let this beautiful collection work its considerable magic. Maith thú, a Sheáin. Mick Corrigan, October 2020.