My next poetry collection will be released in April from Broken Sleep Books.

From the publisher “An inimitable and eccentric suite of five long poems in the most aberrant tradition of epic poetry; this sequenced fable grinds human nature through its cousins and throws words like faeces at a confused tourist. Rabid and satirical, The Great Apes is a poetry collection utterly unique, extraordinary and linguistically exciting. As avatars for avarice, here is the chimp, a charming villain; the gorilla, a corrupted dignitary; the bonobo, Sadean and debauched; the orangutan, knowing both too much and too little. Here is the human, the final chapter, the brain that names itself though it knows not why. The brain which is also a particular ape delicacy. Bon appétit.”

It’s my 10th collection. It’s the third in a loose series which utilises satirical anthropomorphism to be critical of delusional human behaviour, or something like that, following The Rottweiler’s Guide to the Down Owner (2014) and The Guide to Being Bear Aware (2017).

It’s conceptual though, five long poems each on a different ape, and so more in line with recent collections like I will show you the life of the mind (on prescription drugs) (2020).

I wrote it in a real burst about three years ago. I have tinkered since, but also needed to find the right publisher as it’s full of sex and violence. In part it uses adapted tracts from Marquis de Sade in fact.

It has also already been partially adapted to song too by Diamanda Dramm and forms part of her album “The Brain Book” launched this April also, at Dublin Music Week