Torchlight

In this fifth poetry collection, Northern Irish poet Peter McDonald explores the haunting persistence of memories and the acts of remembrance that preserve and shape them. From Belfast in the troubled 1970s to contemporary England, from ancient myth to rock music, and from personal recollections to Sappho’s memory of her youth, this compilation of lyric poetry is both light and vigorous. Those interested in contemporary reworking of ancient texts and myths will especially appreciate a major new translation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which highlights the losses, recoveries, and revelations of the shorter poems herein.