Follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook
  • Home
  • The Poets
  • Events
  • Gallery
  • fault line

Michael Pedersen

Michael Pedersen is a poet, playwright and performer who has collaborated with musicians, filmmakers and artists across the UK. His chapbook, Part-Truths, was published by Koo Press in 2009 and went on to become a finalist for the Calum Macdonald Memorial Award. This was followed by The Basic Algebra of Buttering Bread (Windfall Books, 2010). Pedersen’s first full-length collection was Play With Me (Polygon Books, 20130. He is co-founder of the literary night and record label Neu! Reekie!, and a lyricist for the band Jesus, Baby! 

Order Be the First to Like This
Jobseeker

On a June morning, sodden
and weepy, I came back
to the broo:

its accordion of tones
and teeth, the wild eyes
of hirsute residents.

Like a marsupial conceals
a cub, I cradle a book
of Armitage’s poems,

weaving through words
as electronic Job Points
gesture like madmen –

a few clicks and they know exactly how much
trouble you’re in.
Most of us pretend
we don’t have to be
here, delivering a haughty hymn
of honeyed triumphs.


Midway through the poem
‘Man with a Golf Ball Heart’,
I’m accosted by Neil: his thinning

silver hair and evocative paunch
cast a hostile shadow.
Come right this way, Mr Pedersen.

We meet with a collective pinkness,
his tongue a ticking indicator,
my words skidding tyres


racing through every ailment
neither of us have. The day
had been a diagram, until:

Is there anyone under your care
or who cares for you, on a full-time
or part-time basis?


At this point I crumble.
Neil has broken me.
Would I be here if there was?



‘Jobseeker’ from Play With Me © Michael Pedersen. Reprinted by kind permission of the author and Polygon, 2013.

Listen to Michael Pedersen discuss and read his work on the Scottish Poetry Library podcast.

Watch Michael Pedersen perform his work.

Michael Pedersen : Play With Me from arts-news on Vimeo.


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.