Iggleheim’s Ark
Once, there was a German Count called Iggleheim. An enlightened soul, who loved beauty above all else, he became alarmed when he heard about a prophecy predicting that a limitless flood would engulf the world on 20th February, 1524. Immediately, he ordered the construction of a three-storey ark on the Rhine…
At once poetic fable and almost-true story, the poems in Iggleheim’s Ark take inspiration from Iggleheim’s extravagant, ill-fated attempt to save his beloved paintings from an impending apocalypse.
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“I'm excited to publish this wonderful wee collection from one of Scotland’s finest poets. I like to think that, if Iggleheim had encountered them, David Kinloch’s magical ekphrastic tales would be top of our 16th century Count’s list of artworks to fill his ark with come the great flood.”
— Duncan Lockerbie, Director of Stewed Rhubarb
Praise for previous collections:
“Some Women is a collection written at the highest pitch of erudition, passion and humour.”
— James Sutherland Smith, PN Review
“Pointed, punchy, serious where it needs to be, witty wherever it can be, written by someone who knows that free verse is not just cut-up prose, someone aware of the value, and meaning, and double meaning, and sound, and rhythm of every word.”
— Paul Thompson, Mumble Words
“The poetry – including the long title sequence – is testing in parts, but all to the good, and the language deployed with true finesse. In many instances we get what we are promised: not spiritual components simplified in verse, not aura; but ‘ordinary energies’ intensified, made vivid.”
— Alexander Hutchison, PN Review, on Finger of a Frenchman (Carcanet)
“His capacity for building larger structures out of individual poems (one of the most memorable aspects of Paris-Forfar) is undiminished…”
— Peter Manson, Object Permanence on Un Tour d’Ecosse (Carcanet)
“Iggleheim’s Ark is a cautionary fable written in the tradition of tales such as those of Aesop and La Fontaine. It tells the story — intermittently — of Count von Iggleheim who read a prediction that the world would be engulfed by a limitless flood on 20th February, 1524. In the face of apocalypse, he commanded the construction of a three storey ark on the Rhine. This proved overly-popular with the local populace, some of whom stormed the ark on the appointed day in the hope of saving themselves and tossed the poor Count overboard. This much seems to be true enough…”