A Straight Up Giant
Serious, comic, brave, cowardly, engaged, disengaged, urgent, unurgent, chattering chiffchaff, talking horses, unpretentious, pretentious: Mark Waldron's expansive fifth collection encompasses it all.
There are a series of fairytale poems, and others which give unfettered voice to the character of Marcie, a character who has appeared in Mark Waldron's previous books. But behind the humour and playfulness, there is always something deeply unmeant, meant. Readers of Mark Waldron's previous collections will find all of his trademark wit and imagination here, as well as new poetic territory as Waldron continues to develop his distinctive voice.
Mark Waldron was born in New York in 1960 and grew up in London. He works in advertising and lives in East London with his wife and son. He began writing poetry in his early 40s. He published two collections with Salt, The Brand New Dark (2008) and The Itchy Sea (2011), which were followed by two from Bloodaxe, Meanwhile, Trees (2016) and Sweet, like Rinky-Dink (2019). His fifth collection, A Straight Up Giant, is published by Bloodaxe in 2023.