Natural Mechanical

J. O. Morgan lives in Scotland; this is his first book. J. O. Morgan's Long Cuts, a further book based on the life of Iain Seoras Rockliffe, and At Maldon, Morgan’s version of the Old English poem ‘The Battle of Maldon’, are also published by CB editions. Further poetry collections, and also fiction, have been published by Jonathan Cape.

‘Remarkable. A gem of a poem’ – Simon Armitage‘Natural Mechanical is wonderful – a memoir written in language that is cannily involved with the ordinary miracles of childhood. By looking hard and exactly at particular things in a particular place, it speaks to everyone, everywhere.’  – Andrew Motion‘Morgan has created a rare biography in a style so vivid it is clearer than prose. If those who never touch poetry tried a few pages of this, they might become converts.’ – Rosemary Goring, Herald‘Subtle verse and a feeling for precision of detail lie at the heart of the poem’s success … The remarkable thing about Natural Mechanical is that it is not the slightest bit quaint or sentimental. It is a shower, a veritable downpour, of fine particulars in a single robust life.’ – George Szirtes, Poetry London‘It is no Rousseauesque fable and its hero is no noble savage. In fact when a makeshift Heath-Robinson pulley breaks and his friend Harry falls out of a tree and has to be carried to hospital, we are almost in Beano country. And it is this ability to occupy the overlap between Thomson comics and The Prelude that makes this poem such a literally fabulous achievement.’ – Times Literary Supplement‘Natural Mechanical is a higher achievement than Barry Hines’ A Kestrel for a Knave, with which it has some similarities, because it is more finely written. The verse is spare, clear, almost without simile or metaphor, building its effects and narrative thrust by noting details precisely and moving on … The closest parallel I know is John Clare’s descriptions of country life …[Morgan] writes calmly and precisely, without exaggeration or moralising, of events that simply are. In the same way, Rocky simply is and Morgan’s achievement in bringing him to life over nearly 70 pages with such respect and restraint is remarkable.’ – Hannah Salt, Magma‘This arrestingly lovely memoir’ – Scotsman