Fresh Air and The Story of Molecule

By John Gallas

Comprised of two separate collections of poetry, this compilation explores a world newly discovered in the imagination. The first is an exhilarating, freewheeling ride through landscapes and languages, filled with the enchantment and the melancholy of the open road—from tramping the Gobi desert and cycling in Irish drizzle to paddling in Tonga. The second section tells the tale of Molloy Gillies, a semi-detached 12-year-old who one night takes his bike from the shed and pedals off to escape evolution. As Molloy encounters dangers, kindness, and police cars, the poems reflect on what life and freedom are all about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd.
• Release date: Jul 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781847776358

John Gallas

John Gallas was born in New Zealand in 1950. He came to England in the 1970s to study Old Icelandic at Oxford and has since lived and worked in York, Liverpool, Upholland, Little Ness, Rothwell, Bursa, Leicester, Diyarbakir, Coalville and Markfield, as a bottlewasher, archaeologist, and teacher. His books are published by Cold Hub Press (nz) and Agraphia (Sweden), and The Little Sublime Comedy is his tenth Carcanet collection. He is the editor of two books of translations – 52 Euros and The Song Atlas – also published by Carcanet. He is a Fellow of the English Association and was 2016 Orkney St Magnus Festival poet.