The Next Life

Following his widely acclaimed prose memoir The Invisible Prison (2009), and his New and Selected Poems (2005, reissued 2007), popular Irish poet Pat Boran's first full-length collection of poems in over a decade sees him explore questions of love, belonging and connection in poems that, more than ever, are influenced by song, recognising that small and great challenges alike may be entry points to new beginnings, and that the instinct to sing and praise has seldom been more relevant or crucial. Despite appearing to echo the promise of religious belief, The Next Life of the title is entirely to be found in the here-and-now and the near-to-hand, in the play of sparrows on a lawn, in the mortality-exploring games of his two small children ('Let's Die'), and, against the noise and distractions of the world, in the trust and faith of lovers "whispering together / words never uttered before".