The Dead Weight of Beauty, Stuart McKenzie
You don't have to remember us
but know that we were here -
the genius of light that shone
through the green and purple glass
These poems play out in part against the backdrop of the 1980’s and early 90’s, including glimpses into the hedonistic fashion industry of the time and teenage life in the North of England, where sexualities are challenged and identities forged amongst excursions into club culture, as a means of escape - a rite of passage of sorts.
‘In The Dead Weight of Beauty, decades accordion, encounters and remarks surface, and lost loves and lusts pop by to say hello. Stuart McKenzie’s superb collection offers a catalogue of loss and life: eternal Christmases, Johnny Cash, Helen Reddy, drug stunts, dukes, cads, studs, heatwaves, football chants. The morsels of memory and its conjoined twin longing flicker and haunt. He expertly plays the registers of irony and sincerity, dazzling with the blur of references, proper names, fashions, and songs to create an atmosphere like torn-off scraps collaged to fight the empty space and isolation framing us all. It’s like stepping into a room of constantly changing dimensions and furnishings, disquieting and wondrous.’
- Nate Lippens
