A Poetry Book Society RecommendationDean Browne arrives at the After Party with the maturity and style of an altogether more seasoned poet. In a debut collection of standout and stand-alone poems, each tests the boundaries of its unique universe. Browne is a mesmeric teller of strange tales, imaginings that can seem origamically contained within the compressed dimensions of a poem. A leg sets off on a long train journey; a Parisian alley cat is launched into space; earthbound lovers attempt to connect while their inner lives prove unbridgeable.Losses are mourned: two poets elegized here ? Charles Simic and the late Donegal poet Matthew Sweeney ? might offer a fingerpost of sensibilities, though Browne?s significant talent is distinctly his own. After Party introduces a beguiling, resonant new voice, a raised eyebrow and fidelity to the image ? sometimes carried along the tightrope much further than seems possible. In poems that are both death-haunted and youthful, and thrumming with a delicious dark humour, Dean Browne brings a much-needed injection of the surreal ? or the surreal-ish as he might prefer to say ? to Ireland?s rising generation.?Poems that sneak in the side-door then exit through the ceiling? Caroline Bird?Dean Browne is a terrific poet: his language is agile and fresh, his ideas surprising, and the reader feels invigorated, renewed ? and lucky to have met such poems? Nick Laird