Giving Poetry a Bad Name
"A flamboyant figure of his generation, Mark Pirie was born
in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1974. In the past six years, he has
published nine collections of poems, a collection of song lyrics
and a book of short fiction. In 1995 he co-founded the literary
journal JAAM (Just Another Art Movement) and in 1998 he
edited the iconoclastic anthology, The NeXt Wave. This new
book collects for the first time the complete "replugged and uncut"
picture of his early experimental output, and includes, amongst
other interesting things, 36 pages of memoribilia/photos and some
uncollected rarities as well as over a dozen new poems. "The Mark
Pirie juggernaut rolls on . . ." - Jack Ross,
brief
"Giving Poetry a Bad Name is a literary rarity, a large and
considerable book put together and introduced by a poet who has
probably published and done more for poets and poetry than almost
anyone ever has up to the age of thirty-one. More than that, and as
can be seen from this publication...Pirie has the capacity not only
to write with wonderful irony, exceptional wit and a droll humour
that's all his own, but also to diagnose and analyse literary
trends and literature with the skill and expertise of the most
serious of sober and dedicated academics. Pirie has done amazing
things and he's going to go on and do more amazing things.
Giving Poetry a Bad Name is a book that those who like to be
acquainted with the shakers and makers of literature should see as
essential reading." - Alistair Paterson, Poetry
NZ
"This is a handsomely expansive volume. It begins with a
sort of 'family album' of photos and reminiscences about Mark
Pirie, of about 30 pages. Pirie in drag, crossing the street, with
friends and celebrities - even with Sam Hunt! The poems prove
Pirie's broad strokes of allegiances and encounters. There are few
classical references, more, red-blooded pop connections (even Bob
Dylan) on Page 248: 'The Dumber Blues'. There's a Ginsberg impulse
in here, almost a James K. Baxter frenzy - lots of influences,
alive and dead. Pirie's later poems are an improvement, but that
isn't surprising. It is nice to have a collection of earlier works
of a poet who continues to pull so many surprises...An essential
book for the lover of modern poetry." - Trevor Reeves,
Southern Ocean Review
"All told this is a collection that is as cynical as it is
honest. Here is a poet in love with the world yet disgusted with
its values. It is a huge book but among the juggernaut of words the
reader is bound to find a number of poignant gems." Linzy
Forbes, New Zealand Poetry Society Newsletter
"...a generous sampling of this Wellington poet's torrential
output...The pace of his composition must be Baxteresque, but Pirie
avoids lyrical excess at all costs. Urban irony is his stock in
trade, across clipped, short verse forms as well as long,
Whitmanesque rants. The energy of his rhyming poems suggests an
inspired Pakeha rapper." - Mark Houlahan, Dominion
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