The result is a humane and radically engaged mode of eco-poetic thinking, attuned to the systems of power that dominate our world, as well as the manifold forms of resistance and response of which human beings are capable.

Imaginatively resurrecting the voices of a number of exemplary historical figures – from Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) to Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) and Kathleen Lynn (1874-1955) – Prophetstown combines a creatively galvanizing understanding of past struggles for emancipation and equality with a discerning, clear-sighted perception of present-day social concerns. As such, the collection also features resonant and timely responses to the work of Sadako Kurihara (1913-2005), poet and peace campaigner, and Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), writer and film-maker, among others.

Prophetstown chronicles the resilience and power of the human spirit in dark times.

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“A radical humanitarian poet, Ciarán O’Rourke exposes the futility of bloodshed with fierceness and unwavering empathy. His precise, surgical mind dissects global injustices, giving voice to the oppressed with dignity and unflinching resolve. Prophetstown is as much an appeal to conscience as it is an exceptional literary achievement.”
Molly Twomey, author

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“These are world poems, in the good sense. They make place seem unimportant, while evoking it as a necessary backdrop to what happens always and everywhere. The result is a dark universality that speaks for itself, shot through with moments of redemption…”
Harry Clifton, poet

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