Home Free

The theme of loss is addressed in this collection, and O'Hehir expresses the resulting denial, dissatisfaction and slow renewal candidly and urgently. The acclaimed poet as well as novelist translates abstract anger, fear and passion into elegant and sonorous po ems. She combines direct tone with ex otic and intriguing metaphors; her details are sharp and visual, her imagination vigorous. About the continuing deterioration of her marriage she is solemn, ambivalent, but not maudlin. Though she confronts her father's imminent death boldly, she admits her fears about the inevitable void it will leave, the keener awareness of her own mortality. To move away from the emptiness of her losses O'Hehir fantasizes, unabashedly, with humor: ``Every night since I left you I've been unfaithful / With anyone handy: God, a television voice, an airplane / baggage checker.'' She is deft and innovative in her comparison of the power of natural phenomena to the frailty and uncertainty of the human condition. In ``Mosquitoes'': ``Killing them, though, one of the few times / We master events. Not, Does he love me, are they / Talking, will they forgive, am I / Intruding, but / Finished. In a final smear of blood / Across the palm.'' (September)