A MUSICIAN living in Newport has published his fifth full collection of poetry.

Mike McNamara, who is the lead singer of Big Mac’s Wholly Soul Band which formed 33 years ago, has published a book Mondegreen through AJI Publishers USA.

According to the 68-year-old the book is inspired by “mortality, meaning, god, and godlessness” with him joking that it’s “unsuitable for children under the age of 90.”

Mondegreen is his fifth full collection, with the singer and poet already halfway through a new collection, having also published widely in various poetry magazine.

His books have been published by companies in Wales, Newcastle, America, and Canada, plus online in England.

“This is a varied collection of poems with no particular theme,” said Mr McNamara.

Reviewer, Will Daunt. wrote: “The heart of the book is its middle section, True Stories.

“The three-stanza title poem satirizes how truth is calibrated: ‘I will tell you everything but the whole truth so help me God.’

“Then it’s re- invented as Miltonic Sonnets, that inception deploying the form with conversational aplomb.

“God On A Stick mocks the ‘truth’ of faith: …maybe you should tell me how many guises you have worn: sky, sea, flame, storm, harvest, flood, death, blood, sacrifice.”

Along with writing, Mr McNamara has made a huge impact on the music scene – he’s published more than 60 songs with Kult Records in New Jersey, and the five Reggae tracks he’s published with a Californian published are #98 in the worldwide N1M Chart.

You can find or order Mondegreen by Mike McNamara via https://shorturl.at/cxAY9