Small Things

About the Book

Though each poem stands alone with its own meter and syntax, there is an honesty maintained throughout Small Things that connects them all. Sarah O’Sullivan offers details and insights; she welcomes the reader’s intrusion on her political opinions, tragic moments and passionate feelings. Small Things is a collection of poems that oozes life experience. One poem can make you certain that the author is Irish and the next poem has you reeling from the scents that only exist in a tropical climate. This is a book of language not just rhyme and order, a book of answers not just questioning. If Sarah O’Sullivan’s poems don’t provoke a reaction in you they will definitely make you wonder why you don’t see more of the detail of life around you. Far from being all flowers and moonbeams, Small Things is a book to hold tight and consider how deeply it is possible to love; and how light, hope and vibrancy are there in abundance for the taking. Small Things is a book to read firstly for the joy of poetry and then re-reading to consider the various themes, questions and comments that it offers. Like a CD that you buy for a particular song, your first reading will leave you enthralled by the title poem and then taken by a number of others that hold a charm that surprises you. Sometimes like stories, you will often come to the end of a poem and then wonder at what might have happened next. Certainly you will notice how truth pervades Small Things and how Sarah O’Sullivan welcomes you to experience touching, delicate, sad and triumphant moments of her life. The title poem is written with a simplicity that provokes a little thought-pause from the reader. The poem doesn’t tell us anything new; the concept of concentrating on the small things in life is an old one. However, it skips along quickly and is so suddenly over that it reinforces the message. ‘Small Things’ has two parts and it is because of this that the only two punctuation points in the entire poem exist. The lack of punctuation, emphasised by the word “glimpsed” is what makes the reader pause because we have all seen a simpler, better way to live and most of us have chosen more than once to ignore this and continue on the hectic path. A rough, stony path in ‘Pretoria’ throws the reader into a poem where movement takes over. Despite the unforgiving terrain and the feeling that the truck is unbalanced as it works its way along the road, you want to dive into the page and join in the adventure, prepared to catch your breath as the heavy air closes in around you. It is a moment in time, caught forever in motion. ‘Seagull / Crow’ seems at first to be cumbersome and off-putting, a title that hints at a poem that might be difficult to read. But one read relaxes the reader and the second read will have you agreeing that the title is appropriate. Its closing message highlights a theme that is common in the poems in Small Things – if we open our eyes to look, we might even see. “When they eradicated that secret place” from Sarah O’Sullivan’s childhood will cast every reader’s mind back to their own “secret treasured childhood place”. ‘Build, Build, Build’s solid, literal title juxtaposes with the warm, misty memories of a happy childhood, the hope that future children might enjoy this magical place and the fact that it will not exist for them. From memory to ‘Escapist Fantasy’, the reader might feel that this is a poem to be read silently. It reads like a thought or a dream as its title suggests. There is the sense that verbalising it might break the spell of a wish made fervently. Again, the mention of life being “too often filled by unnecessary noise, insignificant things” echoes the title poem’s sentiments. Even though the poem does not rhyme it does seem to sway as each line draws you further in until you feel you can just close your eyes, sit on the beach and listen to the ebb and flow of the tide in your fantasy. A tiny poem, ‘So Little’ balances the opposites of the author

About the Author

Sarah O’Sullivan completed her MA at UCC in 2001. Her thesis was entitled Mary Dorcey: The Making of Poetry. She has had poetry published in a collection of contemporary poetry called The Stony Thursday Book. Small Things is her debut collection of poetry. She now lives in Co. Cork, Ireland after spells in Australia and South Africa.