The Quick
“Visionary, luminous and haunted, Jessica Traynor’s poems are home to a host of compelling characters: witches, changelings, the spirit of Hildegard of Bingen. In ‘The Quick’, even the grotesque is rendered with subtle delicacy – a woman whose ‘lungs fold like an origami bird’. These poems will give you goose-bumps.” — Helen Mort
"These are poems of such formal ease and control that it is hard to believe this is only Jessica Traynor’s second collection. Her marriage of form and material is accomplished, intelligent and right. This is a poet with a clear, strong voice, convinced of the agency of language and ‘The Quick’ contains many fine poems that sparkle like quicksilver with their own glancing light." - Mary O'Malley
Liffey Swim
"Traynor is a poet to keep reading and listening to. Her language is fresh, erudite and engaging. Her writing future is sure to be a bright one." - Libby Harte, Cordite Review
“Her finely lyrical work is informed by wide travel, a meditative intelligence and an acute sense of history ...” — Harry Clifton