Shortlisted for the Costa 2019 Poetry Award. Winner of the 2020 Hawthornden Prize. Surreal, joyful, political and queer, Reckless Paper Birds is a collection to treasure by Polari Prize-winning poet John McCullough. These exuberant poems welcome you into a psychedelic, parallel world of 'vomit and blossom' where Kate Bush mingles with a weeping Lady Gaga, a 'fractal coast' full of see-through things: water, mirrors, glass pebbles. With a magpie's eye for hidden charms, McCullough ranges across birdlife, Grindr and My Little Pony while also addressing social issues from homelessness to homophobia.
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The day connives and you think you cannot live here, in your body, alone and rushing forward all the time THE ZIGZAG PATH
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(@PennedintheM, 10 May 2020, ebook, 67 pages, borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveLibs)
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This is a new poet for me. The collection has been on my radar for a while because I loved the title so much so was delighted to finally get a chance to read it. Reckless Paper Birds was an impressive collection of poetry and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed every poem. The poems cover a broad and diverse range of subjects and every poem was different, so I found the collection a real treat to read. The language used is very rich and vivid and sheer pleasure to indulge in.
