Harry Clifton, who divides his life between Ireland and elsewhere, is widely considered a bridge between younger and older Irish poets. This new volume provides further evidence of his pivotal position. Portobello, the district in Dublin where he lives, is a microcosm of a changing, cosmopolitan Ireland. These sonnets, written on his return from sixteen years in continental Europe, are at once a celebration of place, a coming to terms with age, and a rediscovering of the universal in the local.
