Martin Jago is a British-American poet based in Los Angeles. His debut collection, Photofit is published by Pindrop Press (2023). His writing has appeared widely in literary magazines and journals. He holds a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford where he was an F.H. Pasby Prize finalist and H.E.F.C.E. scholar.
PRAISE:
Elvis Costello! Ifang Bondi! Richard Wagner! Perry Como! The Smiths! Chumbawamba! That’s part of the lineup in Black Plastic Blues, Martin Jago’s newest collection. From the UK’s home counties to L.A.’s wryly-observed neighborhoods, Jago puts the needle to work, alternating sardonic lyricism (a house-sitting gig gone wrong in “Album of my visit to Palm Springs,”) with painful blue notes (a friend’s illness in “RPMs”). As always with Jago’s work, neither pain nor pleasure are ever far from the surface. What are we supposed to dance to? asks one of his characters. I’d say, start with Black Plastic Blues.
–Tom Laichas, author of Three Hundred Streets of Venice California– FutureCycle Press
Martin Jago‘s poems are echoes of rock’n’roll, friendship, the turmoil of love, and ars poetica. They are written with a playfulness of language in a brave, new way at the edge of consciousness. Reading this collection is like sitting in a musician’s parlor as he spins his favorite tunes, playing the haunting side. It is an ode to black vinyl held up to a mirror so we realize how good poetry is so close to music.
–Bill Ratner, author of Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake – Slow Lightning Press
–Bill Ratner, author of Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake – Slow Lightning Press
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