The Woman with an Owl Tattoo by Anne Walsh Donnelly

I have been really spoiled lately with fabulous poetry. Today, I'm sharing my thoughts on the third collection I've read recently. They have all been by women, all different and all great. Today it is the turn of The Woman with an Owl Tattoo, a brilliant, honest collection by Anne Walsh Donnelly. Many thanks to the lovely Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part, and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb:

This life-affirming poetry collection reflects on the author's growth since the ending of her marriage and what it means to unearth one's true sexual orientation, in mid-life. Anne Walsh Donnelly's intimate exploration of sexuality and identity is both brave and touching, marking this debut collection as a triumph.

The Woman with an Owl Tattoo is published today by Fly on the Wall Poetry. You can purchase it directly from the publisher here or from Amazon.


My Review:

The Woman with an Owl Tattoo is a slim volume, coming in at just 40 pages, but packed with beautiful, honest poems. The author talks about her marriage breakdown, realising she was attracted to women, accepting that was OK, coming out to her family and meeting a new partner. They are frank, sometimes funny and all heartfelt.

Donnelly exposes her innermost thoughts and feelings, as she comes to terms with the end of her marriage and her new awakening sexuality. She doesn't shy away from the difficulties, such as opening up to her traditional parents, and also her children. It's a very brave thing to do, to open up about things so personal and I really admire her for it.

The poems themselves tend to be short, snappy and real. Many are straightforward, although there are a couple which use metaphors of animals, an owl and a hamster, to talk about the breakdown of her marriage. Taken from 'Hamster':

When my husband stuck his finger,
through the wiry bars and poked
her to perform, she didn't know
how to tell him - she was broken

Initially, her attraction to women is troubling to her, as she discusses in 'Coming Out to My Therapist':

Ok, I'm attracted to women BUT I'm not gay.
......
I grip the arms of my chair, 
I'm not anti-gay and I'm not one of them either.

After accepting her new found feelings she comes out to the various members of her family including her parents. From this wee subset of poems 'Coming Out to my Father' put a lump in my throat.

The poems are positive and uplifting. My absolute favourite was 'Someone to Watch over Me', a beautiful love poem. And the final poem 'Self Love' contains a message we could all learn from.

This is a beautiful, raw, honest and brave collection of poems. It's a very confident debut, and I very much look forward to reading more of Donnelly's work.



The Author:

Anne Walsh Donnelly lives in the west of Ireland. Originally from Carlow she moved to Mayo, twenty-four years ago. Her work has appeared in several publications including The Irish Times, Cránnog, Boyne Berries, The Blue Nib, Writers Forum and Dodging the Rain.

Her short stories have been shortlisted in many competitions including the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award (2014, 2016), the Fish International Prize (2015) and the RTE Radio One Frances Mac Manus competition (2014 & 2015). She won the 2018 Over the Edge Fiction Slam. 

Her poems were highly commended in the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award (2017 & 2018). She won the Winter/Spring 2017/2018 Blue Nib poetry chapbook competition and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2018. She was also nominated for the Hennessy Irish Literary Award in 2019 for her poetry.

Her debut short story collection "Demise of the Undertaker's Wife" will be published in September 2019. You can find out more about Anne on her website http://www.annewalshdonnelly.com/ or follow her on Twitter @AnneWDonnelly.


Do be sure to check out the rest of the tour stops!