Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Out of the planetary test tube

A rewarding début from a Porter Prize winner
by
March 2022, no. 440

Animals with Human Voices by Damen O’Brien

Recent Works Press $19.95 pb, 95 pp

Out of the planetary test tube

A rewarding début from a Porter Prize winner
by
March 2022, no. 440

Damen O’Brien’s first collection is an exceptional accomplishment. His individual poems have won several competitions (including the 2017 Peter Porter Poetry Prize). O’Brien signals the emphases of Animals with Human Voices in his afterword, stating that the world has become a ‘meaner’ place during the ten years of its completion: ‘a place of harsh politics, that values outrage over kindness, tribalism over empathy’. He concludes: ‘Like the animals of the title, the poems are voices for human problems and troubles, for the little moments and cares of the human condition.’

Sarah Day reviews 'Animals with Human Voices' by Damen O'Brien

Animals with Human Voices

by Damen O’Brien

Recent Works Press $19.95 pb, 95 pp

You May Also Like

Comment (1)

  • Your inspiring review of Damen O’Brien’s Animals with Human Voices has inspired me to buy my first book of poetry. Thank you.
    Posted by Michael Dolan
    24 January 2022

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.