Oils is a gorgeous, beguiling collection of poems where the poise of the delivery belies the emotional, existential turmoil within.
Through his portraits of an atheist, a pickpocket and a spinach-loving sailor (among others), Stephen Sexton evokes a strange kind of melancholy as he strives to reconcile passion with detachment and profound self-doubt with unwavering love.
Such is the scope of the poems included from the haunting 'The Death of Horses', to the more satirical 'Credit History', and the innocence of 'Subimago' that Oils quickly hooks you with its ambition. It brings wit, melancholy and irony to the table, blurring the lines of what we think and know and dream to great effect.
-Clare Savage, Culture Northern Ireland
"...full of imaginative, lyrical, layered poems"
-Stephen Payne, Sabotage Reviews
