Author's note on the poem:

Firewriting imagines that the German-Jewish critic Walter Benjamin escaped death by his own hand on the French-Spanish border in 1940 – his revolver misfired – and has survived as a kind of wanderer and witness. After the war he returned to Paris, but later moved to London where, in the now of the poem at the age of 120, he is recalling some of his ideas – and confessing – to a nurse, whom he imagines might also be a student of his work. The poem is a personal view of Benjamin. It is hoped that any reader unfamiliar with his writings might begin with Illuminations and embark on a long journey with one of the great radical thinkers of any century.

Publisher's Note:

Given the length of Firewriting, the text has been split into three parts. If you prefer to read the entire text in a more traditional way, you can also download a PDF of the complete poem, which runs to the equivalent of 24 printed pages at A5 size. To read this PDF you will need Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or later for either Mac or Windows, or Apple's Preview for OS X. If your version of Acrobat Reader is older than version 4 you can download a free update from Adobe. Click here for links to Adobe's download pages in the UK & USA.

Firewriting — part 1

Firewriting — part 2

Firewriting — part 3

Books by John Muckle

Download PDF of Firewriting (136 kb file)

John Muckle lives in London. His previous books include The Cresta Run, Cyclomotors and, as general editor, The New British Poetry 1968-88.

The text of Firewriting and the Torn Man graphic (left) are copyright © John Muckle, 2003.

Photo of John Muckle at CCCP 2003, Cambridge, April 2003, copyright © Tony Frazer, 2003.