Arlo Parks just released his new transcendental album my sweet machine, whose opening track “Bruiseless” is a slam poetry supernova. So it’s no surprise that the 2021 Mercury Prize winner just announced a collection of poetry.
The Magical Frontier: Poetry and Fragments of My Sweet Machine will arrive this fall. It contains 20 new poems, as well as lyrics from his latest album. Read his statement on the book:
“Writing poetry, for me, is talking about deep interiority. It’s about wading through the salt water of your own body, capillaries burst, eyes bulging, without wetting. This collection is the fruit of this inner questioning. It’s a tangled mass of everything that made me angry or dazed or depressed or incredibly happy to be alive. It took me almost [23] years to share my poetry beyond a few trusted friends. Poetry was my place, my little clearing in the forest, where I could calmly put down everything I was holding. I don’t know what gave me the courage to open this space to you, but I’m here, I’m doing it. I am proud to show you this personal lens through which life sparkles. This book is no longer mine. It’s yours.”
The Magical Frontier: Poetry and Fragments of My Sweet Machine was released September 12 on HarperCollins, 4th Estate and Dey Street Books. Find more information here.