True

Paul Jeffcutt’s poetry has always been tempted by the coincidental and the accidental, finding strange wonders in juxtaposition and enigma. With ‘True’, this risk-taking reaches a new stage of fluency, insight and daring. Along the pathways of these literally ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ poems, the big themes are explored, in the company of other artists, pioneers, adventurers and plain folk like ourselves. Throughout, the poems cling to perilous supports, delivering messages from this one fragile life across “a lucent tightrope of guile,/balance and pixie dust./On fire, but not burnt.” A joy to read.
—Damian Smyth, Head of Literature & Drama at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and the author of seven collections of poetry.
https://www.damiansmyth.com/

Paul Jeffcutt writes of the delights of local lore, from Bobby’s Bus Stop in Shetland to the legend of Telling the Bees. Alongside the comic irony of colour charts from a posh paint company and a fella changing his name to that of a cartoon character, we encounter the labouring poor, victims of war, long-gone writers and a high-wire artist. Jeffcutt’s latest collection of poetry proves that his mentor, Ciaran Carson, was bang on – poems are out there waiting to be discovered and recovered from the true stories of real lives.
—Rachael Hegarty, Presenter of ‘Poetry People’ on RTE Radio 1 and the author of four collections of poetry.
https://rachaelhegarty.com/