Tribe

" T]he trained eye of the natural scientist and the impassioned soul of a poet fuse to create a poetic universe that is nothing short of miraculous. At home in the liminal spaces where revelations still occur, she approaches our fragile natural environment invariably with a sense of wonder and a detached observant love for its creatures. The precision of her sensual, superbly controlled descriptions, are breath-taking. Encounters with the 'other' world of our animal brothers and sisters display a sense of tact and empathy which is Keatsian in scope. Tribe is an elegy for a lost paradise, a Song of Songs for squirrel, fox and raven, whale, wolf and gannet, and ultimately it raises serious questions for us and generations to come-how did we squander our inheritance so mindlessly: what have we done with the garden entrusted to us?" - Eva Bourke, author of The Latitude of Naples MARY MONTAGUE grew up in Co. Fermanagh and studied Genetics and Zoology at Queen's University, Belfast. She worked for many years as a teacher in Derry. Her first collection, Black Wolf on a White Plain, was published by Summer Palace Press in 2001. She is currently living and working in Lancaster.