FIRST THOUGHTS: Mary O’Malley reveals an affinity for the metropolis with new book

Playing the Octopus by Mary O’Malley (Carcanet Press, £9.99). Review: Colette Sheridan

IN this very fine and hugely varied collection of poetry, Mary O’Malley’s concerns range from the ecological, to surviving in lonely cities with brio. She writes well about nature, rooted in the west of Ireland, sometimes giving a voice to animals.

Even the despised rat is imbued with sensitivity and a sense of injustice, stating that it only eats “what is left”. And the reviled rodent, who is sent out “among the junkies/And rubbish sacks, into the gaol cells/” points out that it will still be in existence “when the seas rise/.”