CLIMBABLE

About the Book

‘Paul Hullah’s poems are unlike any others today. They are not only very good but very direct and moving. And they possess a shapeliness and clarity that other poets today might envy. Their beauty is as enigmatic as it is straightforward.’ JOHN BAYLEY ‘Fine poems, some with an enchantment that touches me deeply.’ IRIS MURDOCH ‘Why isn’t Paul Hullah’s verse better known? He often deals with poignantly transient erotic relationships, within a European tradition that goes back to the troubadours. He does so with modesty and wry humour... His rhythms suggest on one hand rock lyrics, on the other the virtuoso technical versatility of Romantic and post-Romantic nineteenth century writers. But his conversational personality is very much his own. I think that only a very stuffy or bigoted proponent of some other kind of poetry could resist that candid, rueful, singing personality.’ ANGUS CALDER ‘[Hullah] seems softer than he once did. Maybe even fragile … He now exercises that honesty in his poems, but with considerable skill, and surprising tenderness.’ SHIRLEY MANSON

About the Author

Paul Hullah was described as a ‘silver-tongued devil’ by Sounds magazine, while one of his many unsuccessful bands, Teenage Dog Orgy, was hailed as ‘legendary’ by the NME. He currently lives in Japan where he is tenured Associate Professor of British Poetry at Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo. In 2013 he received the Asia Pacific Brand Laureate International Personality Award for ‘paramount contribution to the cultivation of literature’. Climbable is his seventh collection of poetry, following Homing (2011) and Scenes: Words, Pictures, Music (with Martin Metcalfe, 2014). Cover photography: Ian Burdall