Frog Spotting

In the title poem, the poet advises her granddaughters metaphorically to "swim in the obscure." In this, her second collection, Peggy O'Brien tries to do just that in order to probe the shadows cast by love in its different forms. She uses the music in poetry to celebrate the prosaic tenacity and patience our most intimate bonds require, not least our hold on life itself. In a book where the color red makes more than a few appearances and war is a frequent backdrop, the poet confronts collective aggression by trying to understand personal anger. Fortunately, when she swims in dangerous waters, Peggy O'Brien usually wears the life-jacket of humour. Peggy O'Brien is a member of the English Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She formerly taught at Trinity College, Dublin, having lived in Ireland for nearly twenty years. Her first collection of poetry, published on both sides of the Atlantic, was Sudden Thaw (2004).