In the novel art of Cargo, Polina Cosgrave’s second collection poems address her young daughter, weigh the world ahead of her and posit a better future. Evocations of the author’s native Russia and a country ‘where no one can sleep at night’ pave the way for the chilling documentary detail of the title poem and the desperation it fends off. But this wide- ranging book also embraces the erotic (‘the mere touch of you / is a lit match’) and the ecstatic (‘just put your palm / between them / and you’ll know’) as they meet the tenderness of poems such as ‘What Makes You Special’. With social consciousness, wit, elegance and a cavalier abandon, Cargo confirms the presence of a daring, vital new voice in Irish poetry.
