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Physical
Physical | Andrew McMillan
5 posts | 5 read | 3 to read
Winner of the 2015 Guardian First Book Award Winner of the 2015 Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize Shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Poetry Prize Shortlisted for the 2015 Forward Prize for Best First Collection Raw and urgent, these poems are hymns to the male body to male friendship and male love muscular, sometimes shocking, but always deeply moving. We are witness here to an almost religious celebration of the flesh: a flesh vital with the vulnerability of love and loss, to desire and its departure. In an extraordinary blend of McMillans own colloquial Yorkshire rhythms with a sinewy, Metaphysical music and Thom Gunns torque and speed your kiss was deep enough to stand in the poems in this first collection confront what it is to be a man and interrogate the very idea of masculinity. This is poetry where every instance of human connection, from the casual encounter to the intimate relationship, becomes redeemable and revelatory. Dispensing with conventional punctuation, the poet is attentive and alert to the quality of breathing, giving the work an extraordinary sense of being vividly poised and present drawing lines that are deft, lyrical and perfectly pitched from a world of urban dereliction. An elegant stylist and unfashionably honest poet, McMillans eye and ear are tuned, exactly, to both the mechanics of the body and the miracles of the heart.
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AnneCecilie
Physical | Andrew McMillan
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Pickpick

A poetry collection that according to the blurb “are hymns to the male body - to male friendship and male love - muscular, sometimes shocking, but always deeply moving.”

Poetry is not really my thing, so this collection is somewhere between a pick and a so-so rating, but I am going to an event with him right after Easter and I wanted to read some of his poetry before that.

2nd book for #MarvellousMarch
@Andrew65

review
andrew61
Physical | Andrew McMillan
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Pickpick

#booked2021 #poetry @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage
My NY resolution will be try more poetry as Ive often struggled. Id been intrigued by this collection having heard him speak + I found its portrait of men in all aspects raw, graphic, brutal + tender. The image of men as question marks hugging gives beauty to love they share. It doesn't shy from bodily function, + weakness as in the gym poem+ loss of a father. On to 2022

Cinfhen That image on the cover is beautiful 2y
Cinfhen Happy New Year 💜 2y
Cathythoughts The gym poem ❤️💔 2y
andrew61 @Cinfhen And to you Cindy. Happy reading for 2022. 2y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Great review! 2y
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review
Cody
Physical | Andrew McMillan
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Pickpick

I first heard about this book in a Guardian Books podcast and found it fascinating that Physical is the first book of poetry ever to win the Guardian First Book Prize. I didn't know much about it when I ordered it, but I immediately fell in love. McMillan captures so much of what is uniquely human in his poems, centering on the body and how it reacts when outside forces press down on it.

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ReadingEnvy
Physical | Andrew McMillan
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Not many people seem to read poetry but I can be so moved by it. This volume from a young gay poet is well titled - physical. So sensory, with gaps for the breath, and then this poem about breath moving from yoga to love/sex. Fantastic.

Cody This is one of my favorites from the collection 8y
ReadingEnvy @Cody I got this from the library but I feel like I need to buy a copy. I keep thinking about these. 8y
Cody @ReadingEnvy I know. I had to work to get it imported for the store but I'm glad I did 8y
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