Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

“Mercurial” is the latest poetry collection by Cambridge – based poet Michael Brown (it was launched in October 2016). As I'm also Cambridge - based, I should probably do a "hands up" and admit I know Michael.

The collection takes its title from one of the poems in the collection and its tone from the definition of the title word, “characterised by rapid and unpredictable changing moods.” This is a collection of many moods and changes, as well as poems interspersed with black and white images that relate to the poetry.

Brown has a distinctive poetic voice that utilises plain language and short, sometimes almost jagged, phrasing. It is telling that the concept of collage appears in the collection via the poem, “Collage of Grantchester meadows”:

“Tree fingers
puckered
morning sun dries out.

River legs
stretch out.
Skin ripples.”

There is something of the collage cut-up approach in Brown’s use of these short, direct phrases.

Topics covered by the poems in the collection include subjects clearly close to Brown’s heart including poetry, fine art, writers and artists that have impacted on Brown, mental health and sexual politics. These subjects are often approached directly, utilising simple language and Brown’s short, abrupt trade-mark phrasing. At times passionate, at times vitriolic and at time meditative, the collection lives up to its title.

Here awesome further exemplar extracts from the book:

Extract from "All The Dead Poets"

"Pick out like a body in a morgue
this antique lady in her coffin book
grips me, pulls me in
blood left on the page"

Extract from "Savage Beauty"

"Fashion is art
we are blank canvas.

Savage beauty
Everywhere we catwalk.

Becoming
an exhibition of colour.

Against the backdrop
of a clinical world."

Extract fron "Mercurial"

"Mercury rising rapidly.
Unpredictable and uncontrollable,
yet still eloquent.

A thief of messages.
Stacked full of ideas
and very lively."

I'm guessing "Collage of Grantchester Meadows" is a riff off of Sylvia Plath's "Watercolor of Grantchester Meadows"? If so, you've piqued my curiosity....

Jenna wrote: "I'm guessing "Collage of Grantchester Meadows" is a riff off of Sylvia Plath's "Watercolor of Grantchester Meadows"? If so, you've piqued my curiosity...."

I think there are intended resonances. There are also some echoes of Plath's "Crossing The Water".

There is a poem in the collection called "Replicated indirect percussion" that is dedicated to Frieda Hughes and which references both Plath and Ted Hughes in relation to archeological specimens in Cambridge University.

Hello Jenna
Indeed it is. I am a huge fan of Plath. If you follow this link, Sigourney Weaver (who I took punting on the river Cam ,she reviewed Mercurial and is a vocal fan of my audiobooks) recorded a video of me reading the Plath poem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQnDa...

Jenna wrote: "I'm guessing "Collage of Grantchester Meadows" is a riff off of Sylvia Plath's "Watercolor of Grantchester Meadows"? If so, you've piqued my curiosity...."

J.S. wrote: "“Mercurial” is the latest poetry collection by Cambridge – based poet Michael Brown (it was launched in October 2016). As I'm also Cambridge - based, I should probably do a "hands up" and admit I k..."

I think crossing the water is a hidden gem. I was reading it whilst writing Mercurial so I am pleased you noticed that J S. Replicated indirect percussion has proved a popular poem in particular with members of Pembroke poetry society - a poetry group I run at Pembroke College, Cambridge. I wrote the poem whilst helping a student examine a skeleton in a lab at the back of a Cambridge museum.

J.S. wrote: "Jenna wrote: "I'm guessing "Collage of Grantchester Meadows" is a riff off of Sylvia Plath's "Watercolor of Grantchester Meadows"? If so, you've piqued my curiosity...."

I think there are intended..."

How cool of you to chime in on this thread, Michael. I also love Crossing the Water, as I do everything Plath.