Strange Husbandry

Lorcán Black’s brilliant new collection, Strange Husbandry, contrasts modern-day stories of queer passion with older stories from myth and history. The title references not just husbandry in farming of crops and animals, but a more personal rendering of the word, calling on the etymology of the word, meaning to manage carefully. Strange Husbandry is rooted in the city of London during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the beginning of war in Ukraine, and it is a strange moment in the metropolis characterised by lockdown, missing persons and terror attacks. Black’s world is indeed a place where care is needed, and the quality of care in these poems means acknowledging the pain and precariousness that exist in both personal stories and external conflicts.