Carcanet Press - Forty Lies

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Excerpt
Author
Contents
Reviews

And all the buildings dance the Partyquake,

the skirty carpets waving in the heat,

the golden cotton scarletsilken shake

of careless stuffit rocking manmade concrete

hulaloola cando bedo beat

on faith on hope on physics strength and dreams.

from ‘Askhabad earthquake’

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY SARAH KIRBY

‘It is the poet’s job to invent beautiful falsehoods.’ John Gallas’s falsehoods are beautiful, ribald and audacious. Made from found language liberated from books, walls, the internet and radio, his forty lies construct an extravagant alternative reality of Russian assassins and magical shirts, Babylonian gardens, flying monks and the mathematics of Omar Khayyam. From Inner Mongolia to outer space, in tanka and sonnet and villanelle, Viking haiku and musical staves, Gallas collaborates with the print-maker Sarah Kirby to beguile the reader with stories and puzzles, and with pictures that create visual false memories of facts that never were.

Contents

George Malzard, who died in Foochoofoo
Munkhbat Jigjidym, the Mongolian wrestler
God Defend New Zealand
Let-we Thon-dara in exile
Mardukapal-Iddina II and the herb garden
The Picards’ balloon
The meeting of Saadi and Khusrau
Maria Spiridonova, assassin
Gerard de Nerval and the lobster
William Whiston at Cambridge
Mirsaid Mirshakar, a Tajik tragedy
Louis Robert makes paper
‘Talismanic Shirts’, by Professor Tezcan
The burned at Drumcollogher
Askhabad earthquake
The shame of T.E. Lawrence
Pedro Alvarez Cabral
Man versus Kangaroo
Laika
Three songs by Noyon Khutayt Ravjaa
The Art of One Word
Saint Jose Cupertino, the flying monk
The Weka
King Farouk and the prawn
Ornithoptera goliath
The Rooster’s Message
Ariwara Narihira (825-880)
Saint-Saëns dances with Tchaikovsky
1456
Acyanoblepsia
Pliny the Elder and the camel
The faithful elephant of Porus the Great
Plunkett and Casement at war
What Saparmurat Niyazov did
Turks on all fours
Allah and the cockerel
1039
Danish haiku
Omar Khayyam’s algebra
The trial of Orhan Pamuk

It is the job of the poet to invent beautiful falsehoods - Umberto Eco

John Gallas is a poet from Aotearoa/NZ, born in Wellington in 1950 and presently living near Markfield, Leicestershire, in the UK. HE has published 31 books of poetry, mainly with Carcanet Press. Others include SLG Press Oxford, Dempsey & Windle, Indigo Dreams, Cerasus Publishing, Cold Hub NZ, Five Leaves Editions (Nottingham), ... read more

Praise for John Gallas 'Gallas's restless imagination and exuberant vocabulary bounce us through a variety of locations, moods, landscapes and seasons, from the bush-clad South Island of New Zealand to some distinctly unpredictable spots in the English Midlands.'

Fleur Adcock
'So many places! John Gallas vagabonds his way through the wide, wide world, and is just about the most audacious poet I know. These are the poems Wordsworth would have written if he'd grown up in New Zealand, been a bit more mischievous, and got around England on a bicycle.'

Bill Manhire
'John Gallas is not merely a lyric master, but a master of meaning... The Extasie is a collection that I feel I will be coming back to frequently, not just to recapture the enjoyment I had when first reading it, but also to fully bathe in the complex understanding of love in all its forms, rendered so skilfully in poems that reward a second reading with subtle epiphanies.'

Ed Bedford, Coffee Time Reviews

'This is a book for contemplative reading to enjoy all its richness and subtleties. Quietly thought provoking and intelligent, these are poems that celebrate the messiness of life.'

- Mary Mulholland, The Alchemy Spoon
'An enticing and timely collection of translations.'
- The Guardian

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Forty Lies John Gallas Categories: 21st Century, Humour Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (140 pages) (Pub. Jul 2010) 9781847770493 Out of Stock Description Excerpt Author Contents Reviews And all the buildings dance the Partyquake, the skirty carpets waving in the heat, the golden cotton scarletsilken shake of careless stuffit rocking manmade concrete hulaloola cando bedo beat on faith on hope on physics strength and dreams. from ‘Askhabad earthquake’ WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY SARAH KIRBY ‘It is the poet’s job to invent beautiful falsehoods.’ John Gallas’s falsehoods are beautiful, ribald and audacious. Made from found language liberated from books, walls, the internet and radio, his forty lies construct an extravagant alternative reality of Russian assassins and magical shirts, Babylonian gardens, flying monks and the mathematics of Omar Khayyam. From Inner Mongolia to outer space, in tanka and sonnet and villanelle, Viking haiku and musical staves, Gallas collaborates with the print-maker Sarah Kirby to beguile the reader with stories and puzzles, and with pictures that create visual false memories of facts that never were. Cover illustration: Copyright © Sarah Kirby Contents George Malzard, who died in Foochoofoo Munkhbat Jigjidym, the Mongolian wrestler God Defend New Zealand Let-we Thon-dara in exile Mardukapal-Iddina II and the herb garden The Picards’ balloon The meeting of Saadi and Khusrau Maria Spiridonova, assassin Gerard de Nerval and the lobster William Whiston at Cambridge Mirsaid Mirshakar, a Tajik tragedy Louis Robert makes paper ‘Talismanic Shirts’, by Professor Tezcan The burned at Drumcollogher Askhabad earthquake The shame of T.E. Lawrence Pedro Alvarez Cabral Man versus Kangaroo Laika Three songs by Noyon Khutayt Ravjaa The Art of One Word Saint Jose Cupertino, the flying monk The Weka King Farouk and the prawn Ornithoptera goliath The Rooster’s Message Ariwara Narihira (825-880) Saint-Saëns dances with Tchaikovsky 1456 Acyanoblepsia Pliny the Elder and the camel The faithful elephant of Porus the Great Plunkett and Casement at war What Saparmurat Niyazov did Turks on all fours Allah and the cockerel 1039 Danish haiku Omar Khayyam’s algebra The trial of Orhan Pamuk It is the job of the poet to invent beautiful falsehoods - Umberto Eco John Gallas is a poet from Aotearoa/NZ, born in Wellington in 1950 and presently living near Markfield, Leicestershire, in the UK. HE has published 31 books of poetry, mainly with Carcanet Press. Others include SLG Press Oxford, Dempsey & Windle, Indigo Dreams, Cerasus Publishing, Cold Hub NZ, Five Leaves Editions (Nottingham), ... read more Praise for John Gallas 'Gallas's restless imagination and exuberant vocabulary bounce us through a variety of locations, moods, landscapes and seasons, from the bush-clad South Island of New Zealand to some distinctly unpredictable spots in the English Midlands.' Fleur Adcock 'So many places! John Gallas vagabonds his way through the wide, wide world, and is just about the most audacious poet I know. These are the poems Wordsworth would have written if he'd grown up in New Zealand, been a bit more mischievous, and got around England on a bicycle.' Bill Manhire 'John Gallas is not merely a lyric master, but a master of meaning... The Extasie is a collection that I feel I will be coming back to frequently, not just to recapture the enjoyment I had when first reading it, but also to fully bathe in the complex understanding of love in all its forms, rendered so skilfully in poems that reward a second reading with subtle epiphanies.' Ed Bedford, Coffee Time Reviews 'This is a book for contemplative reading to enjoy all its richness and subtleties. Quietly thought provoking and intelligent, these are poems that celebrate the messiness of life.' - Mary Mulholland, The Alchemy Spoon 'An enticing and timely collection of translations.' - The Guardian You might also be interested in: The Book with Twelve Tales John Gallas	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
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