The Woman With An Owl Tattoo

Anne Walsh Donnelly: "It was during my recovery from the break-up of my marriage that I discovered my love and talent for writing poetry. Words tumbled out onto the page. Some of the poems I wrote about my marriage were very cathartic. I also started to explore my sexuality, identity and what it meant to be attracted to women in mid-life. It was difficult for me to accept my sexual orientation, which I had repressed for fifty years. The poems I wrote during this time make up this collection. The collection travels from a place of despair and self-doubt to that of hope and self-love. Throughout the collection, are scattered a selection of dialogue `coming out' poems, which show the experience of what it means to come out later in life to myself, my children and my parents. In other poems I reflect on sexual experiences with both men and woman. I also wanted to show in the collection that women in mid and late-life enjoy sex. That needs to be spoken about more and celebrated. Also the loneliness of not having a sexual partner needs to be acknowledged. We are all sexual beings. The joy of discovering my true sexual identity is also celebrated in the collection, most notably in the poem `Mna na hEireann' The collection ends on a positive note. In the poem `I have lived' which reflects on my experiences of both sexes and also my openness to the possibilities and opportunities that are still to come."

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.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.; "Anne Walsh Donnelly is by far the most daring poet to emerge in Ireland of late. The starkly honest and overt sexuality which pervades Anne's poetry make the work of pretty much all her contemporaries appear repressed and backward-looking in comparison. This publication would certainly have been banned in the Ireland of the past. Indeed, she is one of the few poets around whose work has the glorious ability to get moralistic, supposedly liberal eyebrows twitching. Anne's poems are pretty perfectly formed hand grenades which she tosses about the place with abandon while maintaining a deadpan face. I think this publication is the beginning of something great." Kevin Higgins, author of Song of Songs 2.0: New & Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry, 2017).