Recital by Marianne MacRae
There is more wit and invention in a single poem by MacRae than quite a lot of entire bookshelves. Perfectly balanced surreal interludes, bravura exercises in voice, comedy pushed to its harsh extremes, and increasingly stricken, moving. This is not the imagination as an escape, but a negotiation, one that’s still going on, and it’s a privilege to be a part of it as it consoles, troubles and reinvents. Unmissable work.” —Luke Kennard
*
Good Lady
Like you, I am 60% water,
40% unshakable longing.
I am a myth to be busted.
I keep my page with a bookmark
and sometimes grit blows in my eyes.
The majority of my teeth are artificial.
Some days I am forced
to cup my own butt cheek because
there’s no one else around to cup it for me.
I am nervous and filled with rage.
I am a novelty Christmas hat
or a rare, collectible sticker for your album.
I come and go like interior design trends
drifting lightly by like history
or the scent of a struck match.
*
“Darkly hilarious and deliciously surreal, this collection will thrill and unsettle you with the originality and sneaky vigour of its language. If the Mighty Boosh and Paul Celan somehow had a poetic baby, then this would be it. A startling, potent new voice to watch in British poetry.”—Rebecca Tamás
“Marianne MacRae’s poems are among the sharpest and funniest you could hope to read. Their imaginative boldness and their crisp linguistic dexterity are a delight. One is constantly kept on one’s toes through the poetry’s heady swerves and vivid dynamism. The way in which she sounds out the depths through her brilliant surfaces is wonderfully managed. As one of her poems says: ‘Put simply: wow. And wow again’.” —Alan Gillis
“I’ve been trying to think of the perfect way to describe Marianne MacRae’s poetry and what comes to mind are words like: absurd, delicious, bitter-sweet, tickling, sumptuous, barbed, laughing through tears... I keep thinking of those lemon candies that are wildly, devilishly, fabulously sour at first and which turn addictively sweet if you dare to keep sucking on them. The pain here is always askew, the writer pushes herself and the reader to keep glancing above, beyond the easy summing up of experience to something more complex and real. She writes, ‘You should feel free to question continually the space in which you exist.’ and these poems do that, while elbowing you in the ribs. Brilliant.” —JL Williams
Published 3rd March 2025 with Blue Diode Press. Available for pre-order.
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