Patricia M Osborne

It is a pleasure to welcome back, a poet and friend, Brian McManus with his brand new poetry collection Solastalgia to be published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press. Brian has come along today to chat about his writing and in particular, his brand new collection. Without further ado, let’s go over to Brian.

Many thanks to Patricia for inviting me onto her site today as a guest blogger.

I’ve been writing poetry more seriously now for a number of years. Always an avid reader of poetry my interest in writing was triggered by my prolonged involvement in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 with the death of 270 innocents, resulting in my book of poetry, prose and photographs recounting my experiences. Nowadays I have stepped away from the world of work and concentrate on my poetry and my research interests, and I’d like to talk about both of those today.

I come to you just as my new collection Solastalgia is being published to follow my pamphlet Liar Liar. The latter is a comprehensive commentary of the trauma of the Covid pandemic and the ineptitude of our government to manage it while Solastalgia further reflects on a time in our lives when we have all had to deal exponentially with the often complex and challenging vagaries of life, love, extreme loss and debilitating uncertainty in our once predictable and understandable world.

Reflecting, and remembering, is important. However, although we wouldn’t wish  to disassociate ourselves from our past, neither should we mourn it. There is a balance to be struck between paying homage, and around identifying the questions and the answers we need to work with as we move forward. The moment we are in is the only life we have.

So, in Solastalgia let us reflect then one last time on the aftermath of some of the soul-crushing events of our recent lifetimes, and pay our final respects to those innocent souls who were caught up in the tumult. Then, the old days are the old days, let’s move on.

I have a very special offer available on both of these books at the moment where you can buy both for the price of one (£5.99) postage free in the UK from my website – GO HERE TO PURCHASE THIS SPECIAL OFFER

What the future holds for my writing

My research interests now centre around the work and philosophy of the renowned Scottish poet and thinker Kenneth White. His philosophy of what he calls Geopoetics encapsulates a new way of living, a recasting of self and world outside the carnage of the present, which he offers as a freshly drawn cartography of existence, a reconnection to our Earth and the Cosmos.

I have started to introduce the Geopoetics philosophy into my work in progress and I have been honoured to contribute a little of it to compliment Patricia’s breath-taking nature poetry on a collaborative project we are working on together. We’d like to think we will have that published at some future point but safe to say there is a great deal more to uncover around Kenneth White’s philosophy and indeed his poetry and I look forward to discussing it with you again. In the meantime keep well, and stay safe.

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Thank you Brian. If you would like a reminder of Brian’s last visit on Patricia’s Pen where he discusses his writing methodology – go HERE

What a bargain – two books for the price of one. If you fancy taking up that offer then go HERE

About Brian

Brian McManus is happily married and lives north of Glasgow with his wonderful wife.

They have two grown up children of whom they are immensely proud and three lovely grandchildren.

Brian has stepped away from the world of work now but spent most of his days in public service and latterly in a senior leadership role with a major media company.

Most of his days are now spent reading and writing poetry, researching the subject matter to provide him with the material around which he writes.

Links to Website and Social Media

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Link to Purchase Books