Desire Lines

<p><em>Desire Lines: Unselected Poems 1966-2000</em> presents work drawn from across MacSweeney’s writing life. Beginning with <em>The Boy From the Green Cabaret Tells of His Mother</em> which brought the 20-year-old poet fame and notoriety <em>Desire Lines </em>brings more than 300 pages of MacSweeney’s poetry back into print. His prolific 1970s are represented here by eight complete sequences including the major political work <em>Black Torch</em> and the previously unpublished long poems <em>Toad Church</em> and <em>Pelt Feather Log</em>. Drawing on archival resources and extensive bibliographic resources <em>Desire Lines</em> collects the majority of MacSweeney’s poetry not included in <em>Wolf Tongue: Selected Poems 1965-2000</em>. These unselected poems showcase the full range of his capabilities: from raw lyrical emotion to modernist fragmentation from historical narrative to surreal invention and absurd humour. Including five unpublished poems from the 1980s – including the "State-of-the-Nation Bulletin" <em>Revulsion</em> and the tender heartbroken ‘Soft Hail’ – MacSweeney’s essential contribution to modern poetry can be seen to its full extent. Alongside translations from the French of Guillaume Apollinaire <em>Desire Lines</em> includes an introduction and notes on the texts by the editor.</p><p> </p>