I've just re-read the Frost Fairs after having read it earlier this year. It is an enthralling, first collection daunting in its brilliance. McCullough has previously had two pamphlets published Cloudfish (Pighog 2007) and The lives of Ghosts (Tall-Lighthouse 2008) I went back to it after a conversation with poetry friends about the current state of British poetry and who is most worth reading. We agreed that because it is so difficult to get a first collection published these days they often have the maturity of second or third books and The Frost Fairs is indeed such a collection. 
 From the opening poem; Sleeping Hermaphrodite you get a strong sense of a poet who knows exactly what he is doing and is prepared to take risks. There are lots of love poems in this book and a cast of gay and transgender voices and Frank O'Hara - Rading Frank O'Hara on the Brighton Express. 
 The oldest poem in the book is Dragons, written in 1999. The others were written between 2005 - 2010. 
 DRAGONS 
 Empty railway carriages fill our afternoon, 
 your breath smoky from winter as you slide 
 through each door. Your left arm, tattooed, 
 boasts a red dragon that has lightened 
 to the pink of your lip. Your grin opens. 
 as bare fingers discover my zip. 
 Although the version on the Pighog website is different. 
 Here's an interview with the poet about the influence of Frank O'Hara.