Description

‘Geis’ is a word from Irish mythology meaning a supernatural taboo or injunction on behavior. In her long-awaited third collection, Caitríona O’Reilly examines the ‘geis’ in all of its psychological, emotional, and moral suggestiveness: exploring the prohibitions and compulsions under which we sometimes place ourselves, or find ourselves placed. In poems that range from the searingly personal to the more playfully abstract and philosophical, O’Reilly’s characteristic imaginative range and linguistic verve are everywhere in evidence. These are poems that question our sometimes tenuous links with the world, with others, and even with ourselves, but which ultimately celebrate the richness of experience and the power of language to affirm it.

 

Excerpts

• ‘Geis,’ published on Poetry International Archives
• ‘Clotho,’ published on WFU Press
• Scribd

Interviews

• WFU Press: ‘It Felt Like a Break of Some Taboo I’d Placed Myself Under,’ – Caitríona O’Reilly on Writing Geis

Prizes & Awards

• Winner of the Irish Times Poetry Now Award, 2016
• Shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize, 2016

Reviews

• M.G. Stephens, Rain Taxi
• Anna Bedsole Stone, Breac
• Hayden Murphy, The Herald Scotland
• Lucy Collins, Dublin Review of Books
• Daniela Theinová, Body

Audio

• RTÉ: Caitríona O’Reilly, Poet
• RTÉ: The Poetry Programme - 5th March 2016

Video

• Dox on Air: Museum of Literature Ireland - Caitríona O'Reilly reading 'Ariadne', 'Ovum', 'Glass Sponge' (Followed by Czech Translations)
• UCD Library Special Collections: ‘Ovum’ Read by Caitríona O’Reilly
• UCD Library Special Collections: ‘The Glass Sponge’ Read by Caitríóna O’Reilly
• UCD Library Special Collections: ‘The Antikythera Mechanism’ read by Caitríona O’Reilly
• Poets&Players: A Reading by Caitríona O’Reilly

Resources For Readers

• Poetry Foundation: Caitríona O’Reilly Biography
• Google Scholar References