the aran aphorisms - Mike Ferguson

the aran aphorisms

‘In the aran aphorisms, Mike Ferguson uses erasure not only to give us a tantalising series of fragmented glimpses into the day-to-day physical, social and spiritual reality of the islanders of John Millington Synge’s The Aran Islands (1907), but also to create his own beautifully-crafted flipbook of witty, lyrical, and touching miniatures in which we can do no other than recognise ourselves.’

Ian Seed

‘Like islands emerging from an iridescent sea, these finely-hewn erasure poems reveal a topology of profound, meditative beauty. Pared and reflective, subtle and melodious, the aran aphorisms resonate with layers of meaning that are at once specific and universal. With wonderful dexterity, Mike Ferguson interweaves the strange simplicity of fragments to lay bare the now of us. This is a book to read, to contemplate, and to treasure.’

Marian Christie

‘This chapbook is a psalter of illuminated instants, of reclaimed and balance-on-a-pinhead perceptions. The relationship glimpsed between Mike Ferguson’s erasures and Synge’s journal of a trip to the Aran Isles (key to the dramatist’s work) is a keen-edged and intriguing one. It proceeds slantwise, and by hints and productively-slewed perspectives, generating resonant wit and sinewy meaning.  These adventures in language are speculative, lovely, gnomic, full of surprise. They dazzle with their active enigmas, their array of profound and involving inwardness.’

Penelope Shuttle