Odd as F*ck by Anne Walsh Donnelly

Odd as F*ck is the debut poetry collection from Anne Walsh Donnelly, published by Fly on the Wall Press. Anne Walsh Donnelly writes poetry, prose and plays. She is a single mother of two teenagers. Originally from Carlow in the south-east of Ireland, she now lives in Mayo in the west of Ireland. She is the Poet Laureate for the town of Belmullet in the west of Ireland. Her poetry was shortlisted for the 2019 Hennessy/Irish Times New Irish Writing Literary Award. She won 2nd place in the International Poetry Book Awards, 2020 for her chapbook, The Woman With An Owl Tattoo, and was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2019, and Words Ireland Mentorship Programme in 2020. Her work has been shortlisted for the Fish International Prize and the RTE Radio One Francis Mac Manus competitions. Her play My Dead Husband's Hereford Bull will be performed at this year's Claremorris Drama and Fringe Festival. 

The title poem is a conversation between two women on the breakdown of a marriage between Victoria, who has 'dyed her hair,/same colour as a hawthorn berry', and Jim, who has 'applied for an annulment.' It demonstrates the potential for judgement and small mindedness in a provincial town, through subjective chatter, 'Paid no heed to my warnings./I know sons never do', and humour, 'Ma, the only virgins in this town are the nuns.' A wry and droll cynicism that disguises suffering and the healing process is at the heart of many of Walsh Donnelly's poems. In  My Therapist's Dog the golden retriever asks, 'When are you going to stop coming here?/She has to have two coffee pods/before your session.' In Talk To Me Like Lovers Do she says, 'I write a poem about having sex at sixty./You should be knitting scarfs for grandchildren.'

Divided into seven section, the first is a long poem, Days Like These, a meandering mind on the river of life in quest for the sea, in this case some sort of faith, or peace with God, which the writer, in philosophical battle, finds in herself, 'But maybe, just maybe, God is,/My Greatness/My Ordinariness/In Days like these.' Part two and four explore childhood, grief, and sadness. Soon describes a child's panic on being left in an isolation ward, awaiting her mother who does not return quickly enough, 'you vacuum-packed your heart/promised never to unwrap it,/expose yourself to germs again.' Mother's Day 2020 expresses the anguish of not being able to see one's mother, 'I don't know when I can be with you again. Weeks? Months?' Death is Nothing  At All finds the poet stricken at the loss of her mother,

Death is not - 

nothing.

It is everything. 

There are personal works where the poet's journey through her sexuality is navigated with no-holds-barred honesty. I found I'm a Jack Hammer ('I come to life when he grabs my neck/plugs me into the power socket'), and The Knife Thrower's Wife, fearless, and sad; 

Knowing that she'll survive

his onslaught, she tells him,

to do what he has to do,

no matter how bloody that might be.

While joy is literal in Joy, a gusty celebration of the female body, 'Joy is a naked woman/sitting astride/a speckled-grey mare/raising her arms', and in The Wonder of You two women in St Stephen's Green 'dare to lick/each other's cone'. Walsh Donnelly does not flinch in the discussion of the ageing process and sex, in My Menopausal Womb, My Menopausal Vagina and Vagina. 

Part seven of the book, Voices, is dedicated to Martina Evans. In this fragment objects such as a Ford Fiesta, an eel, the moon, a dreamcatcher, an umbrella and a surf board speak to the author. This is an extensive collection. It documents the struggle, personal growth, healing, liberation and hope of a woman. The butterfly who alights on the poet's shoulder in Red Admiral tells her, 'it's much too soon for me to die,/we still have a lot of living to do.' And in the final, Cygnet, after Emily Dickinson, we are urged to 'listen', 'hope', 'rise', skitter' and 'soar'. 

Odd as F*ck is recommended reading for the LGBTQ community, and wider. Mr Sun and Wrench are loving poems to the poet's son. Preparing for Death, Desecration of Time and To Be a Stranger in Your Own Home caught my eye for their philosophizing and imagery. This is an extremely well written and versatile edition. It raises questions about sexuality, mental health, women's bodies and the ageing process in particular. It does so with courageous, unwavering and stout conviction. It is available to purchase here.

The Woman with an Owl Tattoo, by Anne Walsh Donnelly

From Fly on the Wall Press, The Woman with an Owl Tattoo was published in 2019. A single mother of two teenagers, Anne Walsh Donnelly lives in the West of Ireland. She was shortlisted for the 2019 Hennessy Literary Award for her poetry. She won the Spring 2018 Blue Nib poetry chapbook competition and was joint runner up in the Poems for Patience competition 2019. She was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2019 and read at the International Festival of Literature Dublin in May 2019. She has also been shortlisted for the Fish International Prize and the RTE Radio One Francis MacManus Short Story Competition. Her short story collection, The Demise of the Undertaker's Wife, was also published in 2019. 

This chapbook deals mainly with the process of coming out as a middle-aged woman. There are poems on 'Coming Out to to My Therapist', 'Coming Out to Myself', 'Coming Out to My Son', 'Coming Out to My Daughter', 'Coming Out to My My Mother' and 'Coming Out to My Father'. As a gay woman, I found 'Coming Out to Myself' very amusing. It's refreshing how open and honest the poet is about these experiences. Indeed there is much to relate to in the book on the experience of growing up as a lesbian, the idea of throwing 'Barbie into the slurry tank', friends telling your adolescent self that a boy is 'a ride', that pressure to conform described in 'It's Not Easy Being a Woman'. 

While this coming out is explored with gusto and a throwing of caution to the wind, the act of becoming a writer too is somewhat an act of rebellion. The work opens on 'Guide to Becoming a Writer', where Walsh Donnelly has lived a full, hectic life up to this moment of becoming the writer. It is at this juncture that the poet can say in 'Cúchulainn', 'In mid-life I grew into my childhood hero'.  

There are many sensual poems describing the pleasures of love-making, the satisfaction of the connection one feels in the acceptance and exploration of their sexuality. Walsh Donnelly says in 'I Have Lived', 'In her body/Grasped her bleached marram grass/Surfed her peaks and troughs'. 'Her Hug' too is full of desire and 'Being in Love at Fifty' speaks of its own magical significance. 'No More Fairy Tales' was published in Boyne Berries and what I loved about that was that the girl saves the girl, the subversion of the traditional, 'In my story I save the princess'. Of course the real truth of any fairy tale or quest is that you must save yourself, which the poet addresses in 'Self-love'. 

The collection is a wonderful romp through a woman's struggle to become authentic. The poems are sad, shocking, raw, courageous, comical, lusty and tender. They are always cleverly written and on point. Rural Ireland and the poet's love for her family are celebrated. Anne Walsh Donnelly has a great deal of natural talent and I look forward to her next work. In this Pride month it is a timely honour to review and recommend The Woman with an Owl Tattoo to those reading.