“Read these poems!” – Times Literary Supplement
The poems collected in Fossil Sunshine are the result of Michael McKimm’s year long collaboration with earth scientists, in a project funded by Arts Council England. Drawing on fieldwork with geologists, these poems explore the relationships between geology, the oil industry and climate change, and ask what the evidence held in the geological record can teach us about 21st Century global warming. Whilst addressing the profound impact human society has had upon our planet, the poems are neither didactic nor doom-laden. From ice ages to landslides, oil spills to geo-engineering, Fossil Sunshine captures the language of geology, as well as the energy and drive of exploration and discovery.
“The language employed by this poet is powerfully tactile. These are strong and in every sense grounded poems which are also capable of transformative action and insight into the bedrock of our life experience. For what lies under the soles of our shoes and the foundations of our houses but bedrock? Be his subject a calendar year depicting erosions or a prose poem about a fossil sea sponge, the reader is engaged and enthralled by the range and consideration that gives each poem its specific and enthralling individuality.”
Penelope Shuttle
“Fossil Sunshine shows the ground beneath our feet in a whole new light. In these poems, the language of geology is both poetic and political: basalt and limestone, quartz and jasper become urgent works of art. Michael McKimm’s words ring against the rocks.”
Erica Wagner