Overview

John McCullough's Crowd Voltage addresses yearnings for community. It probes fragmentation within groups and individuals disturbances within the body of the crowd and the crowd of the body. Sky and sea dominate as the speakers search for oneness and completion, confronted by vast silences and the shadow of Brighton's collapsing West Pier. John McCullough has published four previous collections; most recently, the Costa-shortlisted Reckless Paper Birds (2019), winner of the Hawthornden Prize, and Panic ResponseHis first collection of poemsThe Frost Fairs 2011) won the Polari First Book Prize.

Full Product Details

Author:   John McCullough
Publisher:   Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Imprint:   Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 0.80cm , Length: 23.40cm
ISBN:  

9781780377810

ISBN 10:   1780377819
Pages:   72
Publication Date:   26 March 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Language:   English

Table of Contents

11 Choir I: The Body of the Crowd 15 Giraffe 16 The Dreams of Moss 17 Bad Habits 18 Dawn of the West Pier 19 Legs 20 Marginalia 21 Queer Studies 22 Night School 23 Field Trip 24 Portholes 25 Interview with the West Pier 26 Family 27 Masses 28 Quiver 29 The Red Houses of My Ancestors 30 Non-Stop 31 Popcorn 32 I Was Born in an Adidas Tracksuit 33 And Let’s Not Forget Tables 34 The Humans 35 The West Pier Tries Arizona 36 Parallel Circuits 37 Rainbows Don’t Exist II: The Crowd of the Body 41 If Loneliness Is a Moth 42 The Innocents 43 To a Glass of Water 44 The Visitors 45 Shotgun 46 Blacksmith 47 Rungs 48 St Simeon the Stylite 50 Sunfish 51 The West Pier’s CV 52 I Am the Mob 53 The Long Jumper’s Diary 54 Chirp Chirp 55 Against Me 56 Greeting the Hoverfly 57 Shut Up and Jump in the Jeep 58 Abracadabra! 59 Watermelon Man 60 Don’t Mention It 61 Small Green Thing 62 Disclaimer 63 Please 64 Flight of the Birches 65 Push the Button 66 Song of the West Pier 67 Looking 69 [‘I don’t want to have everything I want’] 71 Notes

Reviews

Elegant, curious, and surreal, McCullough’s poetry invades like moss, making everything alive again. A stunning, vibrant collection from one of the UK’s most inventive thinkers. Glorious. -- Joelle Taylor * on Crowd Voltage * McCullough is a visionary, a genius polymath. His worlds and miniature observations are deeply satisfying to stumble into. McCullough’s writing feels tender, intimate, zany and yes …cool. -- Monique Roffey * on Panic Responses * A rare literary phenomenon…a frank and militant declaration of joy. -- Christopher Reid * The Times Literary Supplement * McCullough’s poetic terrain is one of subtly-rendered and political surrealism… Reckless Paper Birds is a timely and necessary collection which vibrates with protest; these poems are talismans against hate. -- Richard Scott * on Reckless Paper Birds *

Author Information

John McCullough lives in Hove, England. His first collection of poems,The Frost Fairs, was published by Salt in 2011 and won the Polari First Book Prize. It was a Book of the Year inThe Independentas well as a summer read inThe Observer.His fourth collection,Panic Response(Penned in the Margins, 2022), was a Book of the Year forThe Telegraphand one ofThe Times' Notable New Poetry Books of 2022. The collection's long poem, 'Flower of Sulphur', was shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. His fifth,Crowd Voltage, is published by Bloodaxe Books in 2026. John is a Senior Lecturer in creative writing at the University of Brighton as well as teaching on poetry for organisations including the Arvon Foundation and the online Creative Writing Programme.

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