The Ghost Orchid

Following the remarkable riches of Gorse Fires, the poems brought together under the title The Ghost Orchid share some of the same concerns, but take many different approaches. Whether in the west of Ireland, Sissinghurst or the stone gardens of Japan; whether confronting the blood of The Iliad or The Odyssey or undergoing “Ovidian metamorphoses;” whether testing poetic form or renewing Ulster Scots dialect, Longley speaks with pared delicacy, passion and vulnerability about love, life and death. A lyric craftsman of genius, Michael Longley has written a book that is fragile and exquisite—like the evanescent ghost orchid itself—yet full of tragic intensity; it is his finest achievement.