Spanish Fly
Published on 25. October 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-0-224-06207-7 (ISBN)
Description
Continuing where he left off with A Spillage of Mercury, Neil Rollinson's eagerly awaited new collection delves again into the dark, moist, unexpected bag of human experience. Taking the themes of love, sex, and life's unpredictable mysteries and excitements, he scrapes away at the veneer of normality to reveal a world that is instantly stranger and more compelling than before.
Rollinson revisits the erotic with his usual wit and bravado, in poems that are sometimes playful and sensitive, sometimes visceral and shocking. He explores scientific subjects through bedroom eyes, introducing the idea of entropy to the lovers' lexicon; he makes sport a backdrop for loneliness - his characters playing golf on the moon, taking the final penalty in the shoot-out, or wandering aimlessly and forever through the high grass of the village-cricket boundary.
Diverse and provocative, vibrant and accessible, Spanish Fly is an unusually happy combination: a successful stimulant and a wholly satisfying performance.
Rollinson revisits the erotic with his usual wit and bravado, in poems that are sometimes playful and sensitive, sometimes visceral and shocking. He explores scientific subjects through bedroom eyes, introducing the idea of entropy to the lovers' lexicon; he makes sport a backdrop for loneliness - his characters playing golf on the moon, taking the final penalty in the shoot-out, or wandering aimlessly and forever through the high grass of the village-cricket boundary.
Diverse and provocative, vibrant and accessible, Spanish Fly is an unusually happy combination: a successful stimulant and a wholly satisfying performance.
Reviews / Votes
Very few poets hit the ground running like this. Move over, Catullus and Villon. -- Tibor Fischer * Good Book Guide *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
113 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-224-06207-7 (9780224062077)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Neil Rollinson is the author of four poetry collections: A Spillage of Mercury (1996), Spanish Fly (2001), Demolition (2007) and Talking Dead (2015). He won the National Poetry Competition in 1997, received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors in 2005, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Poetry Prize for Talking Dead. The Dead Don't Bleed is his debut novel, and won the Deborah Rogers Award for previously unpublished prose writers in 2023.