Emergency Window - Softcover

Sutherland, Ross

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908058021 ISBN 13: 9781908058027

Publisher: Penned in the Margins, 2012

Synopsis

In his ambitious second full collection, Ross Sutherland is an uneasy observer of our age of inauthenticity, hacked computers and digital avatars. Emergency Window features new poems alongside excerpts from two recent sequences, including a hilarious and strangely prescient version of 'Little Red Riding Hood', a poem written using Google Streetview, sonnets inspired by the Street Fighter 2 video game, and a sequence of computer-generated translations of classic literature.

Surreal, funny, intelligent and experimental, these poems chart a search for meaning in a disintegrating world.

"If he were a piece of furniture, he would be an elegant high stool that felt uncomfortable and stylish at the same time."
Ian McMillan, BBC Radio 3

"Sparky, surprising, joyous poetry"
Roddy Lumsden

Ross Sutherland was born in Edinburgh in 1979. His first collection, Things To Do Before You Leave Town, was published by Penned in the Margins in 2009, followed by the limited-edition mini-book Twelve Nudes in 2010 and the free National Poetry Day e-book Hyakuretsu Kyaku in 2011. Ross regularly appears at the Aldeburgh, Manchester, Glastonbury and Latitude Festivals; he is taking his latest show, Comedian Dies in the Middle of Joke, to the Edinburgh Fringe 2012. He lives in Cambridge.

About this title

About the Author

Ross Sutherland was born in Edinburgh in 1979. A former lecturer in electronic literature at Liverpool John Moore's University, Ross works as a freelance journalist and tutor in creative writing. His first collection, Things To Do Before You Leave Town, was published in 2009, followed by the limited edition mini-book Twelve Nudes in 2010 and the e-book Hyakuretsu Kyaku in 2011. Ross is a member of live literature collective Aisle 16, and has toured solo and collaborative shows nationally and internationally.

Review

Lucid observations, smart conceits and insight into the contemporary world as a fragmented, self-constructed thing. - The Independent The images cohere and expand, making gloriously relevant new ones; the crows rising up in omen as ornate costumes burn is undercut by the pile of singed polyester flares and pink Mia Wallace wigs. Neither image can flatten the other, both floundering in the disconnect between feeling and circumstance. - Exeunt Magazine These poems have a particular beauty, liberated from any notion of original meaning which clears space for new, surprising significance. [... Sutherland's] engagement with the hyper- and sub-real is subtle and enjoyable. - The Literateur

Edition details

• Publisher: Penned in the Margins
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908058021
• ISBN 13: 9781908058027
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80