When one picks up a book of poetry, one typically riffles through a few pages and reads a few lines to determine, Is this that book? The book to take home, place by a comfortable chair to read at leisure, to enjoy some moments of reflection and reverie? To facilitate the browsing process, we offer this one-page riffle, with comments and quotes from all within. Michael Corrigan’s Deep Fried Unicorn is a grand compendium of verses, observations varied and honest, presenting his understanding of the essence of things. As he states in Crete, High Summer, “I willingly go as deep as I can go”pushing up to the pinnacle of the sublime, “In moonlight, beloved of the upper air, gliding with the hawksabove the sleeping dreamtime;” while in Workers, he digs down to a rotten core, “We made bad measure of greatness, conferred nobility on the ignoble and crass.”
Mick is an Irish poet, with a distinct ability to communicate the life-angst unique to his country and kin, yet in a way to identify with all readers. His poem, Diaspora 1950, speaks well to this example, communicating the ache of missing, which permeates every Irish family, “the infrequent letter, the small cheap suit, the small cheap coffin, the dull wet dayheavy with unsaid things.”Yet, Mick’s appeal crosses borders and boundaries with something to say to all.He uncovers our origins and speaks to our ultimate eventualities through characters like Wulf, of the Wulf Nation poems, which reveal the cracked paint and rusted underbelly of societal icons; or, Cain, of the Whatever happened to Cain poems, the outcast, solitary survivor on whom godly comforts are wasted.
Michael Corrigan’s satire is sometimes subtle, other times brutal; at all times honest and on the mark. He is an eloquent reactionary, writing words which express our common outrage when absurdities abound. His unique voice and poetic style distinctly debunkwhat “We now know because we have been told” by the “Media advisors and communication specialists.” He directs us to a cleaner, quieter place of tolerance and sustenance for all.
So, this editor’s one-page riffle is complete. We trust our answer to the book browsers’ question Is this that book, is compelling. One can’t stand here in the aisle (or on this site) all day.
Michael (MH) Clay, Editor, www.madswirl.com
