The following notice is from Space Cowboy books:
For more than fifty years Michael Butterworth, better known for his work as a
writer, editor and publisher, has also been a quiet unobtrusive voice in
poetry, with roots lying both in the small press poetry journals of the sixties
and seventies and in New Wave of Science Fiction. His work is distinguished as
much for the restless intelligence, wit and intimacy of his voice as a
determination, shown in many of these poems, to paint metaphorical pictures of
the perils we face due to our poor regard for the fragile biosphere in which we
live. In other poems, he finds, within the events of an ordinary life, scope
for the transcendent, and in still others his use of nonsense and absurdity
playfully captures the moment, puncturing the illusions of the self. Across his
work, elements are reiterated but endlessly transfigured –
The effect is at once familiar and yet profound, in language
that has the confessional qualities and simplicity of early influences such as
Sylvia Plath and the Beats, and the later influence of Zen poets such as
Ryōkan. Occasionally the writing is startlingly radical – a reminder of the
poet’s beginnings in the New Wave.
A collection such as this one from Space Cowboy Books is overdue, and Complete Poems: 1965-2020 brings to more deserving attention a less heard voice in modern poetry
Please click HERE for the hardback.
Please click HERE for the paperback.
Also available: a recording of Mr. Butterworth reading his poems, with music by Phog Masheeen, Julie Carpenter, Field Collapse, Jean-Paul Garnier & As Deviants Stagger.
Please click HERE.
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