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Forty LiesJohn Gallas
Categories: 21st Century, Humour
Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (140 pages) (Pub. Jul 2010) 9781847770493 Out of Stock
And all the buildings dance the Partyquake, the skirty carpets waving in the heat, the golden cotton scarletsilken shake of careless stuffit rocking manmade concrete hulaloola cando bedo beat on faith on hope on physics strength and dreams. from ‘Askhabad earthquake’ WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY SARAH KIRBY ‘It is the poet’s job to invent beautiful falsehoods.’ John Gallas’s falsehoods are beautiful, ribald and audacious. Made from found language liberated from books, walls, the internet and radio, his forty lies construct an extravagant alternative reality of Russian assassins and magical shirts, Babylonian gardens, flying monks and the mathematics of Omar Khayyam. From Inner Mongolia to outer space, in tanka and sonnet and villanelle, Viking haiku and musical staves, Gallas collaborates with the print-maker Sarah Kirby to beguile the reader with stories and puzzles, and with pictures that create visual false memories of facts that never were. Cover illustration: Copyright © Sarah Kirby
Contents
George Malzard, who died in Foochoofoo Munkhbat Jigjidym, the Mongolian wrestler God Defend New Zealand Let-we Thon-dara in exile Mardukapal-Iddina II and the herb garden The Picards’ balloon The meeting of Saadi and Khusrau Maria Spiridonova, assassin Gerard de Nerval and the lobster William Whiston at Cambridge Mirsaid Mirshakar, a Tajik tragedy Louis Robert makes paper ‘Talismanic Shirts’, by Professor Tezcan The burned at Drumcollogher Askhabad earthquake The shame of T.E. Lawrence Pedro Alvarez Cabral Man versus Kangaroo Laika Three songs by Noyon Khutayt Ravjaa The Art of One Word Saint Jose Cupertino, the flying monk The Weka King Farouk and the prawn Ornithoptera goliath The Rooster’s Message Ariwara Narihira (825-880) Saint-Saëns dances with Tchaikovsky 1456 Acyanoblepsia Pliny the Elder and the camel The faithful elephant of Porus the Great Plunkett and Casement at war What Saparmurat Niyazov did Turks on all fours Allah and the cockerel 1039 Danish haiku Omar Khayyam’s algebra The trial of Orhan Pamuk It is the job of the poet to invent beautiful falsehoods - Umberto Eco
Praise for John Gallas
'John Gallas is not merely a lyric master, but a master of meaning... The Extasie is a collection that I feel I will be coming back to frequently, not just to recapture the enjoyment I had when first reading it, but also to fully bathe in the complex understanding of love in all its forms, rendered so skilfully in poems that reward a second reading with subtle epiphanies.'
Ed Bedford, Coffee Time Reviews 'This is a book for contemplative reading to enjoy all its richness and subtleties. Quietly thought provoking and intelligent, these are poems that celebrate the messiness of life.' - Mary Mulholland, The Alchemy Spoon 'An enticing and timely collection of translations.' - The Guardian
You might also be interested in:
The Book with Twelve Tales
John Gallas
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