This prose and poetry tour de force of storytelling has the narrative punch of a novel. It is a new departure for the poet,and for poetry itself. It takes the reader into the not-too-distant future: an artificial intelligence rules the world,and a working-class family use their wits to live off the land. William Letford blends prose and his inimitable poetry: sci-fi and hunter-gatherer are merged into a coherent story in the pages of a stonemason's journal.'You won't see the best of a Macallum until you put something in their fist,'says Letford,introducing the family.'Joiner,nurse,stonemason,hairdresser,plumber,gardener. Lorna even repairs vintage watches. That's the quantum mechanics of manual labour.'We join the Macallum family as they combine their skills to reconnect with the land in a world where the empowered are hell-bent on creating a new utopia. Joe,the stonemason,records in his journal the struggles and successes of a carnival of characters. They hurl grace and humour at a future that is being shaped by a single,powerful entity.Letford's storytelling is gritty and beautiful.'A Macallum,it seems to me now,is made to move,to think on the run. The sofas in our houses were sinkholes. The actors on a fifty-two-inch flat screen - shadows on a cave wall.'
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Carcanet Press LtdISBN: 9781800173439Dimensions: 216 x 135 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'The pleasure I have gained from William Letford's poems... will,I am confident,stay with me for ever.'- Nicholas Lezard,Guardian;'William Letford is the future of Scottish poetry.'- Mark Buckland,Cargo Publishing
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