Goonie: SHORTLISTED FOR FORWARD PRIZE BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2025 - Couverture souple

Mullen, Michael

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1472158814 ISBN 13 : 9781472158819

Editeur : Corsair, 2025

Synopsis

The debut poetry collection by award-winning writer and spoken word artist Michael Mullen, Goonie is a paean of working class life, queer triumph, community, and the sensual power of poetry.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Michael Mullen is a queer poet, writer and spoken word artist from Glasgow. Writing in both Scots and Standard English, Mullen's primary concern is Scotland - its languages and its people. Years of work in hospitality and later as a support worker has put ordinary people at the forefront of their poetry. Whether on the stage or the page, Mullen's love of character and language champions identity whilst dissecting it. He was the co-winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2023-4 as well as the Scottish National Slam runner up in 2022. He appeared on Life and Rhymes with Benjamin Zephaniah on Sky Arts and his work has been published in various places including Neu! Reekie! #NeuVoices, Bella Caledonia, Paisley Mill Magazine, Rymour Books, Glasgow City of Poets and Seahorse Publications. Goonie is their first collection.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Antivenom

I tend to them, moving through the flat
swallow-swift, clinking with each vodka Irn-Bru,
cylindrical fires, hiss-fizz and evaporate sedated by the tin-itch of spirits.
Smirnoff - nane ae that foreign stuff -
my aunts sit wide-legged in leather thrones,
they tell me when I haven't got it right -
too much ice calms its bite -
too much juice foams the gullet -
and too much vodka prompts wraiths
to rave in the vapours. Just before the singing begins
my uncle tsks and knocks back his beer, saying:
Ye canny kill yersel wae thi hing thit cures ye.

À propos de la deuxième de couverture

Goonie, the raw and joyful debut collection from award-winning Scottish poet and spoken word artist Michael Mullen, begs the question what is community? What do we owe it and what does it owe us?

Whether exploring queerness through fierce lyrical poetry or celebrating Mullen's beloved Scotland through vernacular vignettes, Goonie's main preoccupation is with how we form community around us and how community, in turn, forms us.

Many of the themes are encapsulated by the title poem as the narrator readies themselves to take the stage and perform for their older relatives wearing an old goonie (a nightdress): 'Ma aunt raising her vodka Iron-Bru, a tumblr ae noxious flame, a toast / tae me, n ma frilly jig. Awk A jist lettum wear witever he wahnts tae wear.'

In Goonie, the oral tradition of Scots combines with whip-sharp Glaswegian humour to bring alive in language and form the full spectrum of human connection: working class friends gathering round a fire, a living room ceilidh, an chat in the hairdresser's chair, a queer awakening. These poems show the power of acceptance, togetherness and creative expression.

Mullen's life as a performer and poet, a son, a Scot, a working-class boy, comes together on the page to form a collection that casts a sceptical eye on identity whilst also championing it. Ultimately, Goonie address the ties that bind: it is a testament to how love - of ourselves, our heritage, our landscape, each other - transforms everything.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Corsair
• Date d'édition: 2025
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1472158814
• ISBN 13: 9781472158819
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 80
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Corsair Memory, BV.; https://help.corsair.com; ; Wormerweg 8; Almere; Flevoland; Pays-Bas