I Only Know That I Love Strength in My Friends and Greatness

James Liddy cannot conveniently be categorized, and occasionally he confounds even his own fans. One of Ireland’s foremost poets, he is unabashedly gay and unabashedly Catholic. Liddy’s poetic form is dictated solely by the organic flow of his consciousness, weaving images of religion and sexuality into a drama of beauty, love, and ritual. In this collection in particular, his outsider poetic stance is in no small way connected with his vision of himself as a sexual outlaw. His is a challenging voice in a country where the weight of poetic tradition is heavier than most.