Praise for The New Pornography
"Patrick Chapman's first collection, Jazztown, was published by Raven Arts Press about five years ago. The New Pornography is a darkly humorous collection divided into five sections with faintly Gothic headings, among them 'Necropolis Chic', 'Blind Voyeur', 'Disease Variations', this last containing poems with equally disturbing titles such as 'I Am John's Virus', 'Viral', 'In Extremis', and including a poem entitled 'Robert Mapplethorpe: Aspects of Self-Portrait 1988':
The dressing gown becomes a coffin;
The large leather armchair, a fire.
The crown-embroidered slippers walk away.
Thankfully, it's not all shadow and heaviness, though it must be said that in Chapman's darkest poems, a sense of compassion redeems things. Small, funny poems pop up here and there. But overall, Chapman's stylish and crafted pessimism assumes dominance. There is a linguistic bravery evident in these poems which augurs well for later work."
The Irish Times
"Particular poems are startling in their originality, humour and sparseness of language."
The Irish Emigrant
Praise for Jazztown
"A remarkably confident, not to say swaggering, debut for a poet still in his early twenties."
The Irish Times
"A sharp and startling debut it surely is. His urban vignettes, while appearing relaxed, are honed down till every word pays its way."
Books Ireland
"First collection by a young writer who refuses to play safe. Wonderful, original, modern fables are encountered in this book. One of the few books around which is compelling to read. 'Heathaze' is a small triumph of perfect rhythm and original observation and 'The Walls Replied' quivers with emotion, but 'Night Landing' is easily my favourite. The opening is brilliant: 'In her nightdress is the pattern of a ghost./There are twenty and a half small spirits sewn into/the nylon...' and any writer who can come up with something like that...has a rare ability to startle."
The Steeple
