by
- Lilies on the Deathbed of Étaín and Other Poems
- Enditem.
- Selected Poems of Ned Kelly
- Boulevard
- (Un)Natural Elements
- Some Murmur
A collection of two long-form works and four shorter form works detailing loss, meaning, identity, the multiplicity of self-hood, love, passion, and how we understand each other through time.
The Scotsman, Joyce McMillan wrote:Oisin Breen is writing at a pitch few other poets of his generation can muster. The dynamism and control of register, rhetoric, rhythm, is consistently a marvel. These are tremendously exciting poems. The work here is strange and startling – you are never sure where you are, or what is coming next. The poems stretch on to widen the possibilities of what a poem can be. Yet there is a grounded authenticity and emotional surge to the writing. They sweep you up in their flow, in their swerves, in their arch playfulness, in their abrupt intensity. The effect is invigorating and deeply affecting. Lose yourself in these poems and you will not forget it.
The Washington Independent Review of Books, Angela María Spring wrote:A mighty meditation about death, desire and loss.
An astonishing rolling surge of poetic energy and purpose.
[Breen] writes both of the moment of death, and of timeless, life-changing moments of sexual desire, with a sensual vividness that takes the breath away.
Like some great orchestral suite.
World Literature Today, Greg Brown wrote:Breen is doing something innovative and important here. But his language…ah, his language. He has a gift for grabbing the reader by the throat and tossing us into the storm.
Inklette, Stephanie Gemmell wrote:Simply timeless in the sense that the struggles and joys captured are immortal,
Breen’s handling of the legend of Étaín is particularly suited for the contemporary world, awash as it is with more ways of living than any mortal person could ever experience.
These poems soothe and magnify us who can only experience one life.
[It] is the human condition that ties together these poems, that binds myth and science, and that sings it all into meaning.
Daunish Negargar, New Critique: wrote:This collection [is] distinctive, compelling, and powerful.
Ryan Brinkhurst, Literary Heist wrote:Breen imbues the mundanity of everyday life with mysticism and grandeur with these joyous poems.
Paul Thompson, Compulsive Reader: wrote:A unique experience.
The Book Smuggler’s Den wrote:The work of the best Irish poet currently writing in English.
Sunday Morning’s at the River wrote:An impressive collection that marks Oisín Breen as a poet to watch.
Melissa Ridley Elmes, Tinderbox Poetry wrote:Breen's work is characterized by his unique blend of sensuality, nostalgia, and mortality, and his use of experimental form to explore these themes is nothing short of extraordinary.
There are moments throughout this collection that demand the reader pause, stunned.
A transcendent reader’s experience unlike any.
