Blood Feather

by Patrick McGuinness
Blood Feather cover
Good Books rating 4.23
Poetry
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £12.00
Amazon
Format/Price Check
Technical
  • ID: 2966
  • Added: 2025-10-16
  • Updated: 2025-10-16
  • ISBN: 9781448182350
  • Publisher: Random House
  • Published: 2023-05-04
  • Formats: 1
  • Reviews: 3

In Blood Feather, Patrick McGuinness delves into the complexities of identity, showing how it is layered and ever-changing. The collection is divided into three sections, each exploring different facets of memory, language, and displacement. The first section, 'Squeeze the Day,' focuses on the author's mother, her illness, and death, highlighting the duality of being bilingual and how the past lingers as a ghost. The second section, 'The Noises Things Make When They Leave,' elegises post-industrial landscapes and the people and professions left behind by globalization. The final sequence, 'After the Flood,' ties these themes together, seeking a way to see the world anew while acknowledging its losses. McGuinness's clear-sighted and intimate poems offer a unique perspective on redemption and the passage of time.

Reviews
The Times Literary Supplement · Lenni Sanders · 2023-10-13
elegant 4.00

The collection is praised for its unity and elegance, with the poetry flowing naturally and carrying the reader through its themes.

Lenni Sanders finds the collection to be unified and considered, with poetry that flows naturally and carries the reader through its themes. They appreciate the elegant rhythms and the way the poems address both personal and collective memories. Sanders highlights the emotional depth and the way McGuinness's writing makes the past feel ever-present.

Quick quotes

    It feels unified and considered; its poetry is carried along by elegant, natural rhythms that make the few ...

    The collection is praised for its unity and elegance, with the poetry flowing naturally and carrying the reader through its themes.

    The poems address both personal and collective memories, making the past feel ever-present.

Nation Cymru · 2023-09-23
profound 4.20

The poems are seen as a dance between substance and absence, exploring ghosts and the past in a profound manner.

The reviewer views the poems as a dance between substance and absence, delving into the pursuit of ghosts and the past. They find the collection to be profound, with a focus on the shadows and phantoms that linger in memory. The reviewer appreciates the depth and emotional resonance of the poems, making it a compelling read.

Quick quotes

    These poems seem to me a dance between substance and absence – the pursuit of ghosts, in all senses of the word: phantoms, shadows, the past, even ourselves.

    The collection is profound, with a focus on the shadows and phantoms that linger in memory.

    The reviewer appreciates the depth and emotional resonance of the poems, making it a compelling read.

The Guardian · 2023-05-09
beautiful 4.50

The poems in this collection are praised for their lightness and balance, making them remarkable despite their weighty themes. The charm and wit of the writing are particularly noted.

The reviewer is struck by the remarkable balance and lightness of the poems in this collection, which manage to address heavy themes with charm and wit. They highlight how McGuinness's writing elevates the subject matter, making it both accessible and profound. The reviewer appreciates the delicate handling of grief and memory, finding the collection to be a poignant and beautiful read.

Quick quotes

    It is a feat to write weight-bearing poems of such lightness.

    The balance, charm and wit of the writing are remarkable, not least because of his ...

    The poems are carried along by elegant, natural rhythms that make the few ...

Appears in Lists