Beneath Our Feet (Abbey Press, April 2018) is Mel McMahon’s poignant second collection, offering a lyric commemoration of the last two years in the life of Wilfred Owen—one of the First World War’s most revered poets. Drawing from a centenary context (2018 marked 100 years since Owen’s death in 1918), the collection immerses readers in the landscapes, memory, and emotional truths of trench warfare.
The title is drawn from a powerful image captured by BBC’s Huw Edwards during a Somme centenary memorial address at Thiepval: “Beneath our feet here are the thousands of soldiers whose bodies have never and may never be found.” That resonant phrase underpins the collection’s evocation of absence, burial, and the subterranean burden of grief.
McMahon’s craftsmanship is characterised by:
Historical Presence and Poetic Tribute
This is not pastiche; it’s a respectful, imaginative appropriation. McMahon listens closely to Owen’s voice through the lens of his poems and letters—offering emotional insight into Owen’s battle fatigue, shellshock, and unwavering commitment to duty. The poems are set across France, Craiglockhart, and the Somme landscape in the closing years of the war. As poet, Theo Dorgan, states: ‘Here, Mel McMahon, delicately and with considerable poetic tact, spans out a bridge between the loving, sparing son and the clear-eyed, savagely truthful poet.’
Earth as Witness
The earth itself becomes a silent chronicler: sodden trenches, buried bodies, shifting soil become carriers of memory. This collection invites readers to sense history in the ground underfoot—its weight, its secrets, its unbearable presence.
Emotion in Lyrical Form
McMahon’s style is quietly powerful. He uses judicious lyricism to evoke grief, camaraderie, and haunting stillness. The poems often feel hushed—ripples rather than waves—mirroring both the weight of war and the remembrance of silences.
ScholarPoet Voice
A background steeped in English teaching and poetry publishing brings a clarity to McMahon’s voice, which balances imaginative empathy with historical rigour. Historian, Philp Orr, states: ‘I’d recommend it as invaluable reading for those who treasure the arts of poetry and those who continue to be aghast at the personal impact of that most brutal and pointless of conflicts.’

 
Highlights to note
The Wilfred Owen focus
McMahon honours Owen’s journey: his restless enlistment in early 1917, his shellshock recovery at Craiglockhart, his return to the Front in 1918, and his eventual death in November of that year. These markers inform the structural and emotional architecture of the collection.
Centenary framing
Published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Owen’s death, the book reawakens historical memory and underlines the poet’s sacrifice and enduring relevance.
Subtle yet resonant imagery
Think of cracked trench walls, shifting mud, or the harsh flutter of letters delivered to soldiers—small yet charged details anchor the reader in lived experience, not distant abstraction.
Why read it?
For a fresh take on war poetry
McMahon enters Owen’s world with reverence and imaginative care, creating a companion piece that honours rather than imitates.
For introspection on memory and absence
Rotten earth, lost lives, and unspoken grief—Beneath Our Feet engages with remembrance in a tactile, emotional way.
For lyrical restraint
The language is measured yet tight, offering a reflective, composed tone that nevertheless carries emotional weight.
For historical and literary interest
This is a wellresearched, studied tribute—ideal for readers interested in the Great War, Owen’s legacy, or contemporary poetic forms.
 
In summary, Beneath Our Feet is a contemplative, resonant collection that speaks with quiet respect to Wilfred Owen’s final years, and to all the soldiers lost in the trenches. Its strength lies in empathy—not patriotic fervour—and in listening closely to history’s buried voices. McMahon’s poetry breathes life again into soilstilled stories, reminding us that beneath our feet lie the echoes of grief, valour, and memory. It is, as Sir Ken Robinson states, ‘… an insightful, moving and timely work.’