About Irregular Images
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Edward Ahern's poems have been individually published and republished in over a hundred and fifty magazines and anthologies. Irregular Images gathers a hundred of his best poems into one book. The mix is eclectic—formal and free verse, micro and page length, humorous and melancholic. His poetry is unambiguous and approachable, a pleasure to read without undue strain.
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ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Irregular Images
AND EDWARD AHERN'S POETRY
“From service in the armed forces to Egyptian gods to a witty form letter from Santa to the kids, Ed Ahern covers a wide expanse of ground in his collection, Irregular Images, in topics, forms, and tones. As he says of the animals in ‘Boarders,’ there’s a ‘surprising amount of room at the inn.’ Enjoy the fun and philosophy!”
Laurel S. Peterson
Norwalk Poet Laureate, 2016 - 2019
Norwalk Poet Laureate, 2016 - 2019
“Edward's poetry is characterised by honesty and integrity. He has the ability to reflect on experience and share emotion succinctly. His writing invariably secures empathy and respect, and commands the full attention of the reader. I have admired his work for many years and I am sure that you will enjoy this collection.”
John Stocks
Poetry Editor, Bewildering Stories Magazine
Poetry Editor, Bewildering Stories Magazine
“Ed Ahern’s poems are at once playful and somber. They embrace life in its totality. The poet is precise, self-effacing, nimble, equally unafraid to live joyfully and to lift the curtains that lead to the shadows. The result here is a collection of poems written by a poet who is glad to be alive despite life’s disappointments and frailties and who makes us glad he is alive. Time spent with this book is well-rewarded.”
Emerson Gilmore
Author of The Leesburg Poems and To Alice and Her Cancer: A Chronicle
Author of The Leesburg Poems and To Alice and Her Cancer: A Chronicle
“Ed Ahern has given us a collection of one hundred poems. Read one or several each day and this volume will last a while. But some will last longer than awhile for they will stick with you like burrs you collect in your walks through the thickets of life.”
Ray Rauth
Wilton Chapter Coordinator, Connecticut Poetry Society
Wilton Chapter Coordinator, Connecticut Poetry Society
“The themes of Ed Ahern’s Irregular Images are nothing short of momentous—lust for life, transience, mortality. They are wrung through his short, quartz-hard poems with a force that sometimes attains to that of the Hopkinsian ‘ooze of oil / Crushed.’ A recurrent motif in Ed’s work is the hunt, which, even as it pins the deer or the pheasant in the cross hairs, catches the poet himself in the lights, the frozen quarry within our larger viewing. Before long, we the readers are right there with him, hunters and hunted, ourselves swamped by the pervasive ache and terror of an impending blackout. Grim? Yes, but also immeasurably liberating.”
Ralph Nazareth
Author of Ferrying Secrets and co-author of Dropping Death
Author of Ferrying Secrets and co-author of Dropping Death
If you like the animation on Ed's book cover, check out animator Rita Goodall's Facebook page HERE.
ABOUT THE POET
EDWARD AHERN
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