An Educated Heart

Mairéad Byrne

Poetry | 2005 | 34 pages | $10.00 | ISBN: 0-9743181-4-0 | Saddle-sewn binding

In juxtaposing poem sequences respective to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the breakdown of a family, An Educated Heart raises again the troublesome question of the relationship between the public and the private, in the specific context of a woman’s voice. While the two sequences are clearly delineated, the collection also includes poems which could refer to family life, or war, or both. The poems relating to Iraq are by and large composed of fragments of Internet coverage of the war, and an aesthetic of collage, fragmentation, and brokenness pervades the book.

Mairéad Byrne immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1994 for reasons of poetry. Her collection Nelson & The Huruburu Bird was published in 2003 by Wild Honey Press. She lives with her two daughters in Providence, Rhode Island, where she teaches poetry at Rhode Island School of Design.