"Poetry Scares Fascists" & Other New Concrete Poetry by Mike Ferguson (Devon, UK)

 

"Poetry Scares Fascists" by Mike Ferguson (Devon, UK)

 (November 2024) (Image courtesy of the artist)

Mike Ferguson's New Concrete poetry

British poet Mike Ferguson works in the classical Western concrete/pattern poetry tradition. He is also a conventional poet, and he applies this talent to create a language-centered visual poetry. 

For me, Ferguson's basic unit of measure is the word. Signs tend to remain intact. Forays into the asemic are few. His exhaustive explorations of words (and context) are intellectually challenging with wonderful, aesthetic experiences part of the journey.

Mike Ferguson is clearly comfortable assuming the ideo-cultural stance of (the especially South American) international, concrete poetry movement of the 1950s-70s. Clemente Padin is a towering figure in this milieu.

Given these elements, Mike Ferguson's work is (I think deservedly) enjoying increased interest as the New Concrete Poetry gains acceptance.

- De Villo Sloan

"How many bodies are buried in the desert?" by Mike Ferguson 

(November 2024) (Image courtesy of the artist)

"Calm before the further calm" by Mike Ferguson 

(January 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

"Derrida's Power of Babel"" by Mike Ferguson 

(December 2024) (Image courtesy of the artist)

From "Waves" by Mike Ferguson (December 2024) 

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Vowel Sonnet" by Mike Ferguson 

(October 2024) (Image courtesy of the artist)