Eoghan Walls’ Pigeon Songs is a gorgeous second collection of poems: richly detailed, densely metaphorical, steeped in themes of love and loss. The pigeon as a totem animal rings true, suggesting both a down-to-earth physicality along with an ability to astonish, to take flight.

From the first piece, ‘Angry Birds’ we have a sense of the poet’s themes and preoccupations: we have a richly metaphorical and densely allusive style, a pull towards formal metre and structures. There is also the occasional vigorous vulgarity, adding a touch of blue humour to the canvas, breaking up the formal rigor.

Formally adept, vividly evocative, Pigeon Songs rewards re-reading.