The Beating Heart

By Denise O'Hagan

The Beating Heart is an allusion to the continuous pulsing of feelings that lie beneath the surface reality of our lives. This collection 'slips into the lining' of various experiences from a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debbie Lee
• Release date: Jun 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781760419295

Denise O'Hagan

Denise O'Hagan is an editor by trade. Born and raised in Italy, she lived in the UK before emigrating to Australia in 1990. She holds an MA in Bibliography and Textual Criticism, and worked in book publishing in London (Collins, Heinemann, Routledge) and Sydney (Harcourt Brace, Cambridge University Press, State Library of NSW). In 2015 she set up her own imprint, Black Quill Press, to offer editorial services to assist independent writers. A member of the Australian Institute of Professional Editors, she is proud to have been short-listed for the inaugural Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Prize, 2017, for her work on her late mother's novel Jerome & His Women. She has also published fiction and poetry. Website: https://blackquillpress.com/

Book preview

The Beating Heart

The Beating Heart

Denise O’Hagan

Ginninderra Press

The Beating Heart

ISBN 978 1 76041 929 5

Copyright © text Denise O’Hagan 2020

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All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be sent to the publisher at the address below.

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First published 2020 by

Ginninderra Press

PO Box 3461 Port Adelaide 5015

www.ginninderrapress.com.au

Contents

Foreword

The Beating Heart

Acknowledgements

About the Author

To my father, who bequeathed to me, among other things,

a love of poetry.

‘Where does spirit live? Inside or outside

Things remembered, made things, things unmade?’

Seamus Heaney

Foreword

Infused with heart from its first delicate opening poem, this magnificent debut poetry collection from seasoned wordsmith Denise O’Hagan is an elegant interplay of evocative forays between her internal and external worlds. There is an urgent stillness to much of this work, drawing the reader in with its tenderness towards every aspect of the experience of living. Rich with the colourful cadences of her childhood in Italy, the poet’s language pulses with vital, at times visceral, imagery.

Each detail, every moment, no matter how small, is interwoven with meaning, with a reverence often bordering the sacramental. The everyday act of brewing and pouring a morning coffee is elevated to the mystic as ‘the imprint of half a century of pourings’ materialises ‘a fluttering of uneven ghosts’. Wisdom and symbolism abound in this bountiful collection, where ‘there is meaning in the fall of a sparrow’ and a discarded prayer stool morphs into a Catholic inquisition.

There is melody and whimsy and wry humour (‘And the nuns wore lipstick’) hiding between darker truths as the poet reveals her unwavering compassion, particularly towards the most vulnerable (‘Charlie’ and ‘Boston Uncommon’). She does not baulk at recording the routine horror of life in Italy during her growing up years – ‘the violence that edged things, bomb scares, corruption, political abduction’. This contrasts starkly with the vividly colourful romanticism of her childhood reminiscences where scavenged pine nuts are ‘sweeter than any pricey packaged import’.

Though wistful memoir in parts, the poet is never overtly sentimental. Dextrous juxtapositions are everywhere, as are the poet's keen powers of observation. The first blush of maternal love nestles alongside a shocking diagnosis, ‘the distorted chambers of your small heart’ and ‘the awkwardness of visitors’. The poet artfully balances poignant delvings into family and ancestral history with a stripping away of polite society’s silky underskirts to reveal a sour underbelly where a ‘coiffured housewife with sherry breath risks losing her balance’ and ‘razor-thin lines’ thread the wrists of a gift-laden private schoolgirl.

Like ‘a latter-day suburban witch’, the poet conjures enchantment throughout this splendid collection – from ‘the silver turning of a leaf in the damp air’ to ‘the throwaway gift of a fallen petal’. This is a poised and polished entrée from an experienced hand. I have no doubt we will see much more