The Wrong Miracle

Synopsis

Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar. (Picasso)

Philosophical, inquisitive, humorous narratives show Gallagher’s talent for letting ideas be widely connotative – sharp and daring, quirky and knowing – these poems of wide-ranging themes and approaches are chock full of the unexpected, delivered in lively rhythms and tempo with an energy and way of seeing the world that is compelling.

Be the poems about an addiction to soap watching or searching for the ‘real’ flamenco to oddly philosophical glimpses into angels and bath time or Picasso and a sexual snap – these well-rounded poems are full of spark, moving one into seeing the grand significance in the mundane.

Darker angled poems zone in on death, on loneliness, on a graveyard visit, on war. These poems use original images to bring timely messages that are real and tangible.

A series of love poems incite gorgeous, off-centre views on love. Playfulness and tongue-in-cheek mix with sensuality and randomness, idioms catapult into surprises, there are implications and engaging twists and urgency.

From the cosmic to the domestic, from childhood flashback to adult matter-of-factness, from the simply chilling to the witty and authentic – cleverness and a surreal intensity entertain and enlighten, making Wrong Miracle an achievement of the amusing and the deep.

Gallagher is a poet of immense resource with a refreshingly original voice that will move one to exclaim – ‘Ah, what a great thing for poems to do!’

Praise for this Book

‘Liz Gallagher's poems delight in the possibilities of language. They seize us from the first line and tug us along, startled and exhilarated by the tumbling originality of her use of words.’ —Laurie Smith, Magma

‘Whether about an untranslated paragraph on shooting ducks or breakfast cereals, Picasso and a sexual snap, Liz Gallagher's poems are proof that everyday movements generate power and magic. The Wrong Miracle is the work of a master illusionist—a fusion of the surreal and the domestic, the strategic and the spontaneous—where perception is challenged and subtly reinvented.’ —Arlene Ang, The Pedestal Magazine

‘These are poems that may surprise: sprinkled with humour and vivid word pictures. The verbal twists take you by a friendly matter-of-fact hand to show you other truths. Liz Gallagher owns a true poet’s eye for detail paired with a flair for oddly compelling juxtaposition. Her poetry wants to show you this other thing it has found, like a cat displaying its catch. (as in her poem) ‘Just look what the cat dragged in’.’ —Barry Harris, Tipton Poetry Journal

‘Long lines with surprising phrases and rushing, tumbling images mark the narrative trend of Liz Gallagher’s poetry. The poems lean into the strength of these narratives, rely upon the poet’s willing experimentation with varietal voice, and in so doing, create a distinctive diction – one with introspective vision that bubbles out of earthy perception, like a choice mineral spring.’ —Eve Anthony Hanninen, Poet, Writer, Artist & Editor of The Centrifugal Eye