Author Description

Strange Magic is an enchanting walk through a beloved childhood neighborhood. Jay Rafferty easily mixes together Irish mythology, the realities of nature, and human memory to explore the passage of time with a gentle touch and love. -Candria Slamin, author of And the Universe Said I Love You Strange Magic is a feeling; a time in between all times that treads the line between myth, religion, mental-muscle-memory, and the absolute present. Jay Rafferty takes his readers on a linguistic journey, morphing around the real, the known, the unknown and the imagined. Rafferty dives between very real memories of his childhood, the myths and legends that came before, and their influences. Rafferty watches from a black hole in his eye; the eternal spot that sees halos in everyday mundanity. Sprinkled with the poet’s infamous wit, Strange Magic epitomises the space found between Irishness, history, religion, and that magic we seem to know, and feel, before we know or feel anything else. -Niamh McNally, Author of It Seems Harbouring deep reflections about life, art, and everything in between Strange Magic is a stopping point where history and memory come together and hold hands, where "The truth is not as thrilling / Or ancient." Nature lures readers into contemplations about dandelions and fowl, and readers discover "There's life / in the old hive yet." Rejuvenating and imaginative, Rafferty's writing fuses the realistic and the mystical, the bones and the crowns life hands us all. The speaker in these poems fits the best storytelling elements into verses readers will carry with them long into the night and deep into the morning. A masterpiece in its own right, Strange Magic is a tantalizing brew of poetic allusions and forces. Nicole Yurcaba, Professor of poetry, Southern New Hampshire University