Jack McKenna
Pigeon Laughter
25th July 2025
I went into The Glass Delusion blind, which was surprisingly the most reflective way to fall into this collection. Jack McKenna takes us through abstract depictions of a dizzying and confusing existence, with writing sensorily rich. Each piece is without title and rumbles through a series of timelines, tossing the reader through past and present, leaving chunks of context out of poems like snipping sections out of a reel of film. I felt about in the dark over the first few pieces, grasping lines like “the tired old man that routinely leans on the windowsill and swallows what he must” and “it rings and then speaks of inevitabilities”. It’s soon clear that this collection is worming its way through a series of memories stitched together to form the periods before, during, and after a dementia diagnosis. Links to Annie Ernaux’s I Remain in Darkness are clear. Some poems are explicit in their tacklings: “microglia / little cleaners […] / they brush away all / my knowing”. Others allude to night terrors and pull us through immersive flashbacks that have lost all ties to the who, the when, the where. The Glass Delusion is a powerful and unique way into an experience that we often see from the outside looking in. A poignant point to remember since, in the final pages, McKenna dedicates this collection to his grandad.