The Road to Ballyvaughan

Gibbons Ruark

“There’s a clean, lively language at work here, full of fine words clearly relished, while those poems lodged in Irish landscapes, both physical and literary, shine with the virtue of authenticity: they see, feel and communicate what’s actually there, what’s been experienced with sharp eye, responsive ear, imaginative understanding. Powered by such energies, Staying Blue stays satisfyingly alive from start to finish.”

Eamon Grennan

“Gibbons Ruark is a yea-sayer. Here is poetry to give us heart, full of serious praise for life and humankind, in language strong and beautiful. It seems a lovely irony in a time when Irish poetry is thriving that Ruark, with his roots in North Carolina, should stand so high among those contemporary poets who can write of Ireland with the most sympathy and understanding.”

X. J. Kennedy on Rescue the Perishing

ISBN 978-0-936481-03-6