True to its title, the poems in O’Hagan’s second poetry collection, Anamnesis, allude to a world hovering at the edges of our minds, one that can be sensed and yet lies, teasingly, just beyond conscious reach. The arc of poems through time and distance represents a summoning up of, and immersion in, small moments which reveal themselves to be quietly momentous; a distillation of personal experience from which we feel there is something to be collectively gleaned. The recovery of memory in its various facets is explored, and the poetry that emerges is both poignant and lyrical.
‘Through the excavation of personal memories, O’Hagan shows how our inner worlds are kept alive and made coherent, turning keys of recall to unlock a deeper awareness of who we are, and why. Her finely nuanced and delicately wrought poems are eloquent testimony to the functioning of memory and its implications for creativity, reminding the reader how another’s exacting work of remembrance can illuminate our own.’
Jena Woodhouse
In a world of pretenders, O’Hagan’s is an authentic and powerful voice. Anamnesis engages the senses as entirely and effortlessly as if the poet herself had grasped your hand and softly whispered, ‘Come, see the world through my eyes.’
Dave Kavanagh
‘O’Hagan’s poetic voice is a complex, subtle, and authentic one that captures moods and behaviours with an intense and elegant analysis, and a searing insight into the stories we tell ourselves, what our memories conjure, and what lies beneath the force of forgetting.’
Linda Adair
Kate Maxwell (verified owner) –
‘Anamnesis’ is a stunning anthology. Denise O’Hagan has created a fluid and sensual collection- or recollection (as the title suggests) of love, grief, and ordinary beauty in the everyday, in the past, and in dreams. Her portraits and tales capture moments or emotions in perfectly selected details and exquisite clarity. You find yourself nodding, misty-eyed, or smiling as you are invited into her world of beautiful words and ideas. A book to read and return to time and again.
James Walton –
This is a book of luminous clarity, where the three senses of time meld with the daily and commonplace to produce wonderful reflections on remembrance, hope, loss, and being. One of the best collections I have read in many years, taking us deep within and without of ourselves, with an unbending beauty in the lines of words to slowly absorb.