Where Sadness Begins

In its four sections John MacKenna's collection explores the general and the personal. The opening section ranges geographically and emotionally from the boglands of his native Kildare to Northamptonshire ? home of one of his poetic heroes, John Clare. The landscape varies but the poems are peopled with those who live on the periphery, the characters who inhabit his short stories and novels. The second section begins with the deeply personal sequence Brother, a response to the death of his only brother Jarlath in 2005. From this starting point the poems explore loss, failure and doubt in a strikingly honest exploration of his relationships with his parents and his children. The third section is composed entirely of haiku. Finally, the closing section returns to the personal ? to the uncertainty and, often, inadequacy of love.