Andrew McMillan’s first full collection of poetry, Physical, has made the Guardian first book award longlist. Physical, published by Jonathan Cape, is also on the shortlist for the Forward best first collection award.

On the Guardian website the collection is described thus: “Rarely can a poet have packed more into such a small space than McMillan has in this intense engagement with forms of masculinity. In a collection that is barely bigger than a pamphlet he moves from the macho anxieties of sports changing rooms to the intimacy of two men sharing a pee, drawing on classical and modern references to power his passionate paean to the male body.”

At a reading celebrating gay poetry at the Poetry Library earlier this year, McMillan spoke of  his admiration for the poet Thom Gunn, “the enduring love of my life”. Of his own work, he said:  “I didn’t set out to write gay poetry – it’s just love poetry and confessional poetry.”