Spacecraft

by John McCullough

Margins, edges and coastlines abound in John McCullough's tender, humorous explorations of contemporary life and love. Spacecraft navigates the white space of the page and the distance between people, encompassing everything from lichen to lava lamps, and from the etymology of words to Brighton's gay scene. Its powerful central sequence concerns the death of the author's first partner from an AIDS-related illness. Spacecraft is a humane, spellbinding collection from the winner of the 2012 Polari First Book Prize. 'Alive to the pathos in a punctuation mark, walking through dark places with a spring in its step, Spacecraft is a marvellous book.' - Sarah Howe

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

John McCullough’s words are full of a freshness and invention which have seen him described as Brighton’s brightest young poet. Often beginning from anecdotal, transitory incidents, his pieces filter reality through a sophisticated array of voices, variously formal, abstract, surreal and humorous, merging and subtly blending as his artfully chosen subjects dictate.

Based in Brighton, McCullough teaches creative writing at the Open University and the University of Sussex, where he was awarded his doctorate for a thesis on friendship in English Renaissance writing. He has published in The Rialto, The Guardian, Ambit, London Magazine, Magma, The Wolf and Chroma, in whose international writing competition he won second prize in 2008. John was also co-editor of the Queer Writing South anthology Whoosh!, published by Pighog.

Reviews

[D.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It appeared without warning like an angel
or injury, this tall mark of havoc--a pillar of fire."

So begins the second full-length collection by British poet John McCullough. The opening salvo is a title without words, simply the bold exclamation point--!-- to say we begin with the utmost urgency.

Out of body, in the open brackets of the air, McCollough crafts a space unsettled and vast as any voice has dared, charged with remembering and the equally perilous task of forgetting.

I don't know if McCollough's books are easily available in the US. Hopefully an American press will be smart enough to pick up this title and his Polari First Book Prize-winner, "The Frost Fairs." One of the most exciting writers of poetry in any country.

[Eddus · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a perfect clarity to certain lines and phrases in these poems. A real sharp eye is at work, which is enjoyable. I wasn’t fully convinced that the collection held together under the title, but I enjoyed what we were given.

The sense of the love of language and words is very strong in these poems and that’s what has stayed with me.

[Juliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The sky leaks stars / and the moon falls up / to begin its slow plunge through the hours.” John McCullough’s Spacecraft has been on my shelf for years just waiting to be read, and finally, gladly, ravenously, I read through this gorgeous book of poems, from gay celebration to introspection of feelings of shame, rage, grief, always with a tender eye on the beautiful flawed world around him. And there’s a careful knowing too, an awareness of the “craft” involved in moving through poetic space: “words race ahead of me, free / from punctuation, scarves and tails flapping.” It’s a rare thing for a book of poems to be both unbearably clever and still humane, humble, full of feeling.

[ollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this little poetry collection. The first few made me hesitant if the style was for me, but they each took you further on a journey and bled fairly seamlessly into each other stylistically and thematically. I felt like each built on the last, and I enjoyed each one more and more as I continued through.

[Bella Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I've Carried a Door On My Back for Ten Years' is simply one of the best poems I've ever read! You feel the weight of the words while experiencing a sense of solace - so beautiful!

[Cooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is some very good poetry here

There is excellence, but sometimes the feeling of trying too hard. There are one or two weaker poems. When he is good he is very good.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A calling for occupants of interplanetary craft!

[Serge ♆ Neptune · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourite poems include: Stirious, Formations, The Wilful Eye.