To Star the Dark by Doireann Ni Ghriofa: book review

To Star the Dark (2021) is a collection of almost 40 poems.

The author experiments with structure and form – some poems are written like the Shakespearean rhyming couplet of the witches’ spell in Macbeth – ‘double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble’ – while others are written like a science experiment – hypothesis, phase 1, phase 2 – and others read like lyrical prose.

I like her poem ‘Dancing in the Demesne’ which is written in a circle – in the round – reminding me of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean lyrics – ‘Who will dance on the floor in the round?’

There are many poems that explore femininity, such as the birth of a child and questioning her life while she is still in hospital. But there are other poems about nature and birdsong and walks in Parisian parks. And others about everyday life, such as doing laundry in a Boston laundromat.

Doireann Ni Ghriofa explores the light and dark side of past and present life – shining star light on the dark while not descending too low into a black abyss. I like the sing-song flow of some of the poems that emphasise enchantment and hope and magic from the bubble of life’s boiling cauldrons.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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