Spacecraft

By John McCullough

Margins, edges and coastlines abound in John McCullough's tender, humorous explorations of contemporary life and love.

Encompassing everything from lichen to lava lamps, and from the etymology of words to Brighton's gay scene,& Spacecraft is a humane and spellbinding collection from the winner of the 2012 Polari First Book Prize. Spacecraft & navigates the white space of the page and the distance between people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penned in the Margins
• Release date: Mar 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781908058553

John McCullough

John McCullough's first collection of poems, The Frost Fairs, won the Polari First Book Prize and was a Book of the Year for The Independent. His second, Spacecraft (Penned in the Margins, 2016), was named one of The Guardian's Best Books for Summer and shortlisted for the Ledbury Forte Poetry Prize. His latest collection, Reckless Paper Birds (Penned in the Margins, 2019) was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award.

Book preview

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SPACECRAFT

John McCullough’s first collection of poems The Frost Fairs won the Polari First Book Prize in 2012. It was a Book of the Year for The Independent and The Poetry School, and a summer read for The Observer. He teaches creative writing at the Open University and New Writing South, and lives in Hove.

ALSO BY JOHN MCCULLOUGH

The Frost Fairs (Salt Publishing, 2011)

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PUBLISHED BY PENNED IN THE MARGINS

Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB

www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk

All rights reserved

© John McCullough, 2016

The right of John McCullough to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Penned in the Margins.

First published 2016

ePub ISBN

978-1-908058-55-3

Print ISBN

978-1-908058-36-2

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

CONTENTS

I | FLYING MACHINES

!

Flittermouse

Some Days I’m Visited by a Church of Rain

Sugar Hammer

1001 Nights

The Desert Photographer

Lichen

Ghost Atlas

In The Angelfish Café

Flother

II | NAVIGATING A SPACE

Mastodon and Mouse

Voyage

Lava Lamp

The Fire Market

Stirious

Haul

I’ve Carried a Door On My Back for Ten Years

Þ

Glitter

O

III | THE SPACE AGE

Nullibiety

The Hole-Digging Contest

Queens Road Books

Rooms

The Booth Museum of Natural History

Vault

The Anger Room

The Mathematics of Plovers

Justin Fashanu

The Wilful Eye

IV | LIVING SPACE

The Restaurant at One Thousand Feet

The Marina Village

City of