This 7 Year Old Walks into a Bar
by Gill O’ Halloran
Indigo Dreams Publishing, £6.00
52 PP, perfect bound paperback
ISBN # 978-0-9561991-5-7
Reviewed by David Blaine
Gill O’Halloran has had her poems published widely, online and in print, and she has paid her dues performing at poetry venues in South and Central London as well. “This 7 Year Old Walks Into a Bar” is her first collection.
O’Halloran works in hospice care and dedicates her book to “…all people who die before they’re ready.”
Some of her lines weave a gorgeous tapestry of color, such as in “Summer Song,”
Pink-blue waves, white terns darting in
sun breaks through mesh clouds parting thin
and summer brings you home…
But as you read through this collection of thirty some poems, you will never forget her dedication. The book opens with the deceptively titled “Sweetheart,”
We were unpacking butter
and tampons from the car
when a quad bike
leapt from the road above
and exploded in the quiet pines.
A policeman winced at the wreckage
and walked away.
Only Kevin cared to hold the boy as his
lifeblood drenched the forest floor
where wild strawberries grew like
sweet red hearts.
or further on, this excerpt from “Let Nothing You Dismay,”
What do I want for Christmas?
Let me tell you.
I want my daughter.
I want to open packets of her
on that joyful crispy morning,
my fingers entangled
in discarded garlands of hair,
the unwrapping of her arms
left unswept on the floor.
The work here does not entertain. It assaults the reader’s senses, grabbing you by the throat and demanding that you pay attention. It will not comfort you, but it will challenge you, and you won’t be able to stop reading till the last line.
Perhaps I appreciate O’Halloran’s work because it’s written about a subject matter best not discussed in polite conversation. These are not poems to recite at dinner or a cocktail party. But they are poems that you will carry within yourself for a long, long time.
You can purchase This 7 Year Old Walks Into a Bar online from the Indigo Dreams Bookshop
Gill O’Halloran lives in London, in an ordinary house full of teenagers, cats and CDs. Her personal and professional experience is 
a constant reminder that time on planet earth is precious and this has prompted her Benjamin Button lifestyle to compensate for being born old. Having reached her teens Gill loves dancing at music festivals, but she’s looking forward to the day she becomes a child.
David Blaine lives in Michigan and is the author of “Antisocial” recently released by Outsider Writers Press
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