"In Durcan’s hands poetry become a method of personal and political liberation rather than a narrowband 'CB'-style conversation between intellectuals determined that no one should overhear them or break their code—to discover perhaps that nothing of consequence, even to the poets concerned, is under discussion. His poetry moved towards public engagement in a period when many of his contemporaries were retreating into high mythologising, theological hankering, and the marginal comfort zone. Failures are inevitable when risks are taken and one thing that is undeniable about southern Irish poetry is that it has not failed half enough of late. Durcan’s failures have done more for Irish poetry than many a safer, more equilibrious poet’s triumphs ever have." Dave Lordan • Southword

---