Title: Firefly Zodiac
Author: Fiona McIlroy
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-7960-0770-0
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 81
Reviewed by: Allison Walker

Read Book Review

Poet Fiona McIlroy writes nature poetry from a uniquely authentic perspective. Years living in a pioneering rural cooperative has given her a truer appreciation for the natural world than most. This, combined with her degree in English and Literature, makes McIlroy’s poetry collection Firefly Zodiac an impressive display of language and metaphor, and sets her work apart from others in the genre.

McIlroy writes poetry about the environment and human impact, issues which resonate deeply for her. Many of her poems are detailed, macro snapshots of nature. Her poem “Tenacity” is about the “snow gum branches” of a tree against the “bone-china forget- me-not sky.” Metaphors like these are unexpected and indisputable; you can touch these words, you feel the cold bark and chill wind against your hand. One of the qualities which set McIlroy’s poetry apart from others is her ability to surprise you with outbursts of incredibly accurate yet completely unlike metaphors. McIlroy’s talent for turning nature into words is stunning again in poems like “Moonlight ride.” In this piece about riding a pony through night woods cast by moonlight, “bony white trees…bend their knees.”

Firefly Zodiac feels like a book compiled over a long period of time. While McIroy’s voice and theme stay fairly regular, the rhythm of the poems read one after another is difficult to grasp. For example, “Aphrodite in Sardinia” utilizes quick line breaks, sometimes cutting short one thought and pasting it to the next. The poem reads, “her spiral to the infinite/ utterly displaced/ now by hard angles.” It feels short, choppy. Finding “now,” somehow lost from its original thought and displaced into the next, interrupts the poem’s rhythm. Four poems later, “Between Sea and Sky” is equally quick, but flows more cohesively. Its lines, “boats hover/ butterflies pinned/ to the seam between/ sea and sky” are still quick, yet far more understandable. Each line holds its own grace together with the poem and separately from the rest.

Throughout the collection, the poems develop or waver in their maturity. For every startling and brand new observation, such as “the moon is a peach tonight,” there is also “just an inkling/ of the infinite can stun.” Lines like this second feel forced, a grand observation for the sake of grandiose. There is sometimes a playful tone which starts up but is lost in borderline pretentious verbiage. The poem “Love boat” is fun and sexy. It leads with, “Was it the crescent moon/ lying on her back/ inviting slow seduction.” But as the lines progress they break apart and bog down, thoughts become separated by paragraphs, and the crescent moon sets upon coral atolls and the French tongue in Noumea.

As a poet, McIlroy’s fine eye is unmistakable. In a genre brimming with the beauty of nature, she’s managed to create distinction for herself. But for every surprising, touchable, poem she offers, her collection also contains poetry more cliché in nature. Firefly Zodiac is a strong collection, but not yet the best we’ll see from this poet.