Crisis Actor

Crisis Actor is a powerful collection of poetry that explores the aftermath of failure and the search for meaning in life. The poems are filled with self-accusation, laconic skepticism, and touching elegies, offering a glimpse into the lives of faded heroes and disillusioned youths. Despite the sense of life going on elsewhere, there are moments of camaraderie and stars aligning that point to the potential for grace and redemption. The collection is praised for its elegant and heartaching language, which illuminates the sorrows of life with a bright flame.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 72 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2023
Publisher: Faber & Faber

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SEAMUS FIRST COLLECTION POETRY PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN POLLARD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE

Who knew that writing with this degree of care, pain, and tact was still possible? For my money, it's the best first volume in decades, I would say since Tom Paulin's A State of Justice (1977): no dead weight, foot-perfect, and engaging.

Michael Hofmann, Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year

Crisis Actor chronicles various failures and farewells. It is peopled by faded heroes and deferential devotees; a hanged donkey, a bloated rat; solitary bachelors and disillusioned youths—these are the watchers, not the players. The poems are awash with rueful self-accusation and laconic scepticism. There are touching elegies, reportage, and bruised, wary replayings. A blistering sequence about boxers and their fates weaves through the collection. The overwhelming sense is of life going on elsewhere, the halcyon days and brightest of years long past. This is the aftermath of being one who, in Matthew Arnold's words, has reached his utmost limits and finds himself far less than he had imagined himself.

But there are still flashes of camaraderie, of stars aligning: lunchtimes in sunlit garden squares, languorous pub afternoons, cheering on and hard-won triumphs. These precious, precarious moments point to how we might reclaim potential, discover human connection in times of defeat or despair, and reach towards grace and redemption.

Elegant and heartaching, these poems illuminate the sorrows of life with a bright flame, returning us to that miraculous human capacity for love and faith even in our darkest days.

Liz Berry

Declan Ryan reveals himself a master of both the telling detail and of narrative suspense. Each exquisitely crafted poem offers a glimpse into the depths of the human experience, from the pain of loss to the hope of redemption.

In conclusion, Crisis Actor is a remarkable debut collection that showcases Declan Ryan's talent as a poet. With its thoughtful and evocative language, this book offers readers a profound exploration of the human condition, reminding us of our shared humanity and the power of resilience in the face of adversity.

Weight: 100g
Dimension: 197 x 132 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780571371273
Edition number: Main