Book Review- Ireland: A Celebration of Verse Edited by Roy Benjamin

I enjoyed the many different poems dedicated to and/or about Ireland but the sections that I enjoyed the most were Fabulous Journeys and Mythical Beings, Tender Love, Fatal Love, and Curses.  I am always on the lookout for Celtic verse or verse on the Celtic lands and this is only the second book I've come across that falls under those categories.  I was quite happy with this little gem and some of my favorite poems include the Fairy Host, Labasheedy (the Silken Bed), Down by the Salley Gardens, I Shall Not Die for Thee, and Were Not the Gael Fallen.

The most amusing line I read in this whole book is from the poem Labasheedy (the Silken Bed) by Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill.

"your hair is a herd of goats
moving over rolling hills,
hills that have high cliffs
and two ravines."