‘Her theme is ‘heaven in the ordinary’ – moments of illumination in everyday life. Written during the pandemic (chillingly evoked in the poem ‘Moss’), these moments become necessary for survival. There’s an imagist precision here, with real emotional power.’ – Graeme Richardson, The Sunday Times, on The Day Before

'There's an undercurrent of suffering to Aoife Lyall's second collection, The Day Before, much of which coheres around the disorientating days of lockdown; its odd rituals, barriers and a looming atmosphere of bureaucratic dread ... There's an elegiac tone to some of the work...and here, the use of gesture and withholding, of feeling by absence, is...effective.' – Declan Ryan, The Irish Times

'The Day Before is remarkable for the assured, luminous quality of each of its poems .... The Day Before is a deceptively complex collection - though its beautiful language and celebration of the everyday create a quiet magic, there is a pervading sense of melancholy as Lyall uncovers the loss in our lives, including the loss of childhood and innocence; the environmental losses we see around us every day; the loss of security in a world marked by pandemic.' – Rosamund Taylor, Poetry Ireland Review

‘The poems in the book ask important, challenging questions of lives lived in the face of existential crises.’ - The Scotsman, Poem of the Week, on The Day Before

'Mother, Nature by Aoife Lyall was an incredibly powerful book. It was extremely moving to read it. I came to this not really knowing quite what to expect, but I found myself blown away by the visceral nature of the writing. It's an extremely moving and at times deeply upsetting book in the way it treats its subject matter, which deals with loss, remembrance, regret and grief.  These are all extremely powerful themes and I think that Aoife presents them in a way that is both powerful, but also accessible.' – Vincent Lal, Co-Judge, Scottish First Book Award

'Aoife Lyall’s debut, Mother, Nature, explores pregnancy, loss, motherhood, hospitals and grief in moving lyric poems that amount to an extended sequence – the thematic resonance of the collection is detailed, and shows a thoroughness in its consideration of small moments of private grief... One of Lyall's most effective techniques is the exploration of paradox, the volta-like turning of the lyric and its imagery, which makes the best poems here particularly devastating in their contained forms.'—Seán Hewitt, The Irish Times

'There are poems in this collection that knocked me clean to the ground, as others offered me a warm hand up and others still, which stroked my backbone as I sobbed. The subject is crucial, but it's the beauty of the poems which hold it all together.  “By law she carries you” is a line that I will never get out of my skin.' – Hollie McNish, bestselling UK poet, on Mother, Nature

'Aoife Lyall’s Mother, Nature is a beautiful and moving collection – a fine debut.' – Michael Longley, award-winning Irish poet

Aoife Lyall is an Irish poet living in the Scottish Highlands. Awarded an Emerging Scottish Writer residency by Cove Park in 2020 and twice shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Awards, she was longlisted for the inaugural Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize in 2018. Her debut collection Mother, Nature (Bloodaxe Books, 2021) was shortlisted for the Scottish First Book Award, one of Scotland’s National Book Awards 2021. She has worked as a guest curator for the Scottish Poetry Library and as a guest editor for Butcher’s Dog.

9     The day before
    10     The early shift
    11     Matinee
    12     Moss
    13     Essential items
    14     Torch
    16     Hamper
    17     Mortification of the flesh
    18     The Hail Mary box
    19     Bath night
    20     In bits
    21     The big shop
    22     My Scottish fathers
    23     The train
    24     rainbow
    25     Going in circles
    26     Traffic calming
    27     Sundays
    28     Wildflowers
    29     Suburban soundscape: Summer
    30     A day at the beach
    31     Maternal instinct
    32     Phantom
    33     Day trip
    34     Artisan
    35     Psithuros
    36     Chaos
    37     Snow poem
    38     Day Return
    39     Tow Path
    41     The Back of Five
    50     Knuckles
    51     Big School
    52     Roadworks
    53     The Distributor
    54         I. For want
    55         II. Side mirror
    56         III. Beyond this point
    57         IV. The badger
    58         V. I would call them rock doves
    59         VI. The hedgehog
    60         VII. Dandelion girl
    61     This page

    62     Notes
    63     Acknowledgements