My Poetry Collection “In The Becoming: Poems on the Deirdre Story” to be released November 15th

I am beyond delighted to tell you that my full-length poetry collection
IN THE BECOMING: Poems on the Deirdre Story will be published by Broadstone Books on November 15.

The poems tell the story of Ireland’s mythological heroine in her own voice; it’s a story about a creative woman’s coming to language and how she literally ‘finds her voice’ from the core of her own individuality. Her voice insists on poetry as a kind of magic language and as a true agent of change and transformation.

If you’d like to be among the first to have a copy, you can now pre-order it clicking here.

ENJOY 20% OFF ON EVERY PURCHASE WHEN YOU SHOP DIRECTLY WITH BROADSTONE BOOKS

Just use discount code POETS24 when you check out.

Broadstone Press is an independent press, passionate about poetry and building poetry community. Direct orders through their website support so many good things — I’m very grateful for any orders you make directly to them, and pre-orders are especially appreciated!

Also, if you feel you would like to write a review or schedule a reading at your venue, or by zoom, let’s talk. I so appreciate your past support and all the ways you’ve shared my work with others. You are my Angels!

I’ll be in touch soon with more info about upcoming readings and book events. Till then, Happy reading!


Margaret McCarthy rescues the tragic heroine of Irish legends, “Deirdre of the Sorrows,” by channeling her voice via the frothy enchantment of the sentient natural world. Once a victim, now a seeker, she gives birth to questions. Magic overtakes her, heals her, opens her, solves all of her mysteries, and then renews her. Many have retold the tale of the doomed young lovers—Yeats, Synge, James Stephens, Morgan Llywelyn, come to mind—yet beyond this lush wordscape of dreams and forests, of city and country, there is a steadfast feminist edge undercutting the predictable and making everything delightfully brand new.

—Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine


But who would have thought it would cause so much pain
to forget where we’d come from?

I am not the same person I was when I began my journey reading In the Becoming. In fact, I forgot where I came from—and then I remembered. Margaret McCarthy’s exquisite imagery and sense of history took me to dark and brutal places and then gently ushered me back into the present, feeling dazzled, my eyes opened. I am glad to be alive, glad to share a world with McCarthy’s poetry. She writes for all time, for all people, but especially for those of us who know something about struggle, despair, and loss. In carefully sculpted lines, McCarthy presents us with the possibility of being born into this world anew. And in these times of violence, loss and despair, these poems feel like a miracle.

—Jamie Cat Callan, creator of The Writers Toolbox


Words are magic. Poet Margaret McCarthy invokes the Muse to free our spirits and re-enchant the world.

—Phyllis Curott, author of Book of Shadows, Witches Wisdom Tarot, Spells for Living Well