MONET IN ÁRANN
for Kathleen Loughnane

Over the drystone, sunstruck wall
we were ambushed by the sway
and scent of a July meadow—
whites of tall daisy and yarrow,
purples of scabious and cranesbill,
the bitten yellow of cat’s ear,
the blue tremble of harebells,
and far more we couldn’t name,

but we were caught, are caught still,
in the blurry, summery sway of it.

‘The musicality of Cannon’s work is harmonious and intoxicating throughout, with resonances of her background in traditional Irish music that echo her fluency in the Irish language. The seemingly effortless symphony of these elements combines in Cannon’s work, so it sings off the page.’
Victoria Kennefick, PBS Summer Bulletin

‘Cannon is an artist of delicacy and detail.’
Fiona Sampson, The Guardian

‘Cannon’s words seem shaped and sheened by the most elemental of energies – as though her poems were drawn from “the core / of a glacier-sculpted mountain”, glistening like trickled water or the purest light.’
Ciarán O’Rourke, Dublin Review Of Books

‘These poems take their sincerity as a given: they are rapturous, melancholic, dismayed or angry just as they declare themselves to be … there is a strong sense of the delights and balm of nature, and of our failings to adequately respect them and the environmental damage that ensues. it is the welcome note of gentle observation that is this collection’s freshest and most appealing signature.’
Vona Groarke, The Irish Times

‘Cannon excels in letting us know of hidden wonders, of human adventures and pastoral splendours, and it is from within nature that some of the strongest poems arise……Although there are notes of sadness and grief, these poems are so rich in the celebration of nature and connection that the reader is enlivened, even emboldened, at the collection’s end.’
Colin Dardis, Everybody’s Reviewing