The Wrong Miracle

by Liz Gallagher

Published 15 July 2009

Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar. (Picasso)

Philosophical, inquisitive, humorous narratives show Gallagher’s talent for letting ideas be widely connotative – sharp and daring, quirky and knowing – these poems of wide-ranging themes and approaches are chock full of the unexpected, delivered in lively rhythms and tempo with an energy and way of seeing the world that is compelling.

Be the poems about an addiction to soap watching or searching for the `real’ flamenco to oddly philosophical glimpses into angels and bath time or Picasso and a sexual snap – these well-rounded poems are full of spark, moving one into seeing the grand significance in the mundane.

Darker angled poems zone in on death, on loneliness, on a graveyard visit, on war. These poems use original images to bring timely messages that are real and tangible.

A series of love poems incite gorgeous, off-centre views on love. Playfulness and tongue-in-cheek mix with sensuality and randomness, idioms catapult into surprises, there are implications and engaging twists and urgency.

From the cosmic to the domestic, from childhood flashback to adult matter-of-factness, from the simply chilling to the witty and authentic – cleverness and a surreal intensity entertain and enlighten, making Wrong Miracle an achievement of the amusing and the deep.

Gallagher is a poet of immense resource with a refreshingly original voice that will move one to exclaim – `Ah, what a great thing for poems to do!’