A ‘howdie-skelp’ is apparently the slap in the face a midwife gives a newborn. We are to understand that this new collection by the much-lauded Irish poet is a Call To Action; although what that action might be when the collection includes “a Yeatsian sequence of ekphrastic poems that call into question the very idea of an ‘affront’ to good taste” remains tantalisingly obscure. We’ll keep you posted, if not slapped.