“I’ve read Arias of Consolation several times, a wonderful paean for Limerick, a kind of opera in three line 
trecets that guides the reader through the city with the constancy of its own particular music. These are memorable songs that capture the ‘edginess’ and the beauty of the city. There is also a depth of perspective, a sense of the poet as witness from childhood to emigrant, his abiding love of the city and his willingness to sing of it, to share it. There is also a deep loneliness that underscores the work & a sense of loss that is ‘time passing’, and times past. I loved the names of characters and streets, of places, real and imagined, distant & near, but it is the presence of the river, of water, its subtle & constant movements, it’s dark erriness and the unique estuary light that mesmerizes and delights, that ghosts this wonderful book.
I will return to it again & again.”
Jo Slade, poet & painter, lives and works in Limerick. She is the author of four books of poetry, including a French/English collection, Certain Octobers, which was published in France. Her fourth collection, City of Bridges, was published by Salmon Poetry, Cliffs of Moher, Ireland in 2005. In 2003 she was nominated for the Prix Evelyne Encelot Ecriture Prize, Paris. She has been Writer-in-Residence for Limerick County Council and in 2007 she was Writer-in-Residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.
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