Michael Farrells new collection is a raid on the inarticulate, but not as T.S. Eliot intended - it liberates energies which exist within language, though they may not easily be spoken, or spoken about. The poems are composed through theMoreMichael Farrells new collection is a raid on the inarticulate, but not as T.S. Eliot intended - it liberates energies which exist within language, though they may not easily be spoken, or spoken about. The poems are composed through the application of principles familiar from contemporary music - sampling and remixing, repetition and substitution, permutation and chance.
This gives them a formal quality, so that one can think of them as concept-poems, songs for the page. At the same time the reader registers the pressure of feeling: wonderful lines and phrases emerge, expressions of tenderness or vulnerability. Michael Farrells poetry gestures towards secret and codified significance while carrying an emotional intensity that will resonate with readers.