I Am a Magenta Stick

Synopsis

Staring at 8MM bar in Berlin, this collection wonders what it’s like to spend your entire life on the M62. Playful, risqué and plain funny, these poems always tackle the important questions. Where does beer come from? Why was Shakespeare fond of gravy? What does it mean where Bedfordshire produces a sweet and sour pasty? Can a smile kill? During the Bradford section of the motorway, the book encounters Titus Salt and enquires about his snooker table. Mark E Smith discusses the Manchester smog and moshes with Allen Ginsberg. Children come and go, wishing for shells, Liverpool and a ready supply of Scootin’ Bumbleberrys. And where is Widdop?

Reviews of this Book

‘Throughout the collection, Rowland demands that we take nothing for granted and ensures that we visualise the world as the extraordinary place that he perceives it to be. It is this unique vision that brings a fresh vibrancy to Rowland’s work and explains why this consistently self-assured writer was recently awarded the Manchester Poetry Prize.’ —Judi Sutherland, Dr Fulminare

Praise for Previous Work

‘Its virtuosic lyrics crackle with energy … Extended phrases of luscious musicality emerge … this is a carnivalesque memorialisation of a lost working class culture.’ —John Goodby, Stand

‘The Land of Green Ginger … celebrate[s] the sublime in the ordinary … explores the various borderlines that transverse the geographical and cultural landscape of contemporary Britain.’ —Angelica Michelis, The European English Messenger

‘Extraordinary.’ —Brian Cox