THE FIRES by M. F. McAuliffe
Publication Date: December 13, 2024
Trade Paper; 100 pages; 4" x 6"
ISBN: 979-8-88896-544-3
POETRY & FICTION
With its tumults of tragedy, cruelty, politics, love and ancestral arguments, the poetry of The Fires is about being human in a world in which non-human beings, larger gods and forces, beauty and utter frailty also live.
The auto-fictional tale, "Hollywood, Guido Orlando, the Pope and the Mother" reveals the hidden and palpable connections between Old Hollywood, a mother and daughter at the other pole of the world, and a reigning Pope.
In The Fires, McAuliffe has created a selection of poetry that cannot be set down. With her birds that make one feel the real possibility of flight, this collection sings. All that could be asked for is more of this remarkable poet.
— Sally K Lehman, author, The Last Last Fight and In The Fat
Sip slowly. These poems, like all powerful elixirs, are distilled to their clearest potency. In these sparse verses, McAuliffe stares with deep attention at the wonder of changing seasons outside while staring deeply inward at our human condition of disconnection and dispossession. Take your time and let each of these poems burn through your heart. She's lighting the fire so you, reader, can see yourself more clearly.
— Armin Tolentino, Poet Laureate Emeritus, Clark County, author, We Meant to Bring It Home Alive
In The Fires, her allusion-rich and deeply lyrical new collection, M. F. McAuliffe's poems ask the questions that must be asked. They tell the truths that must be spoken. In oracular cadence, the title poem declares "the future is here / and it's more sunlight than you can bear / overlaid on sorrow // a pillar of tears / a waterfall of salt." While acknowledging — without flinching, without euphemism — our world's "complex futility," these poems also embrace our world's complex beauty, aspiring to "walk in the bright underbelly of the stars." McAuliffe's nuanced, powerful work does both.
— Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, author, The Voluptuary and My Kindred
In The Fires M. F. McAuliffe's prowess is on full display. Ablaze with a line of masterful metaphors and imagery, these poems stimulate the mind and tug at the heart. Whether by her discernment, humility, confession, tragedy, or beautiful earthiness, readers will find themselves captivated.
— Emmett Wheatfall, author, First Among Beautiful Stars and Contradictions from an Uncertain Silence
The Fires is a jazzy read. From the imagistic pulse to the rhetorical throb, from startling devastation to the richness of what is hidden from view, and from the classical to the profane, these poems behold the obscene with the rare, the junkyard with the unattainable relic, all while circling over the helpless griefs of the early 21st century.
— David Biespiel, poet, essayist, critic; former editor, Poetry Northwest; author, Republic Café and The Education of a Young Poet
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