New serial book announcement- This Was Meant to be the Future
16 Jan 2020 Category: this was meant to be the future
Blimey, it's the year Twenty Twenty, a year that sounds incredibly futuristic. We're past the setting of Blade Runner. The world is different and weirder in ways we couldn't imagine before.
With that in mind, I’m announcing my next book of short stories, called This Was Meant to be the Future. I’ve been working on these stories for the last couple of years and it feels an appropriate time to release them.
Lunar
12 Jan 2020 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from the review pages of Bristol In Stereo January 2019
Bedminster Lantern Parade
11 Jan 2020 Category: photos
It’s my 200th post on this here website! Hurrah!
Here’s some pictures of the Bedminster Lantern Parade, which was joyful.
2019: books of the year
08 Jan 2020 Category: year in review
In 2019, I read 66 books, but a lot were poetry chapbooks or graphic novels. You can see most of the list on my GoodReads page if you want.
Heres some of my personal highlights:
Fiction
Probably because of everything in the world right now, I read a lot of books about escaping into strange dreamlike worlds. I sped through the Annihilation trilogy by Jeff Vandeermeer and Roadsise Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, both of which share a common DNA. They feel less like science fiction and more like moving into a weird world where the...
2019: year of contradictions
07 Jan 2020 Category: year in review
I’m late to the party with my year wrap up. It’s already the roaring twenties. 1 But I still think it is worth looking at where we have been so we can look to the future.
In many ways, the last year of the decade was a contradictory one. There seemed to be such hope in the air with the protests against injsutice and climate emergencies, yet people routinely voted for selfish, narrowminded parties. Brexit seemed a hopeless prospect and yet people were determined to push it through. There was so much joy and within the same...
We're here
31 Dec 2019 Category: podcasts
John Green’s podcast The Anthropocence Reviewed has been a consistent highlight this year, but the latest episode on Auld Lang Syne is particularly moving. The reworking of the song and reclamation of it is joyous.
It made me think about why we celebrate New Year. The answer John Green gives is an elegant one; because we are all still here. Another journey around the sun, another year passing into history.
Hold each other tight and revel in each other’s company. No matter what happens, we have these moments of joy and closeness. We have each other for a little...
Tis the Season
20 Dec 2019 Category: poetry
Come sip the festive juice.
It tastes of cinnamon, cloves,
something strange you can’t discern.
Join us in the circle as we chant,
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Feel your head expand and contract,
like a blinking light on a tree.
Watch as the world is delayed
by half a second, maybe more.
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Hear the chant continue like
a runaway train, your mouth moving
without thought, unstoppable now.
Try to clench your jaw shut. Fail.
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Two poems of hope
14 Dec 2019 Category: publications
Both taken from my debut chapbook Our Voices in the Chaos.
Brace brace brace
13 Dec 2019 Category: poetry
-and the clouds gather above your head, darker than you thought possible, bringing sudden night and you are now aware this field is too exposed and how you stick out like an antenna over the-
-and the airhostesses are telling passengers to sit down and adopt the position, hands behind the neck, back bent forward and they are trying to remain professional but two of them have tears running down their faces even as they try to-
-and they are gathering in the streets, emboldened by political events you only have the dimmest understanding of, some new leader maybe, and...
Inside my commonplace book
10 Dec 2019 Category: creativity
Recently on Twitter, I replied to this tweet about keeping a private anthology.
I got into a discussion about my commonplace book and why I keep one. I thought I’d follow that up with a larger discussion of why I find it useful and some examples from the book.
A commonplace book is an old tradition, with bits of knowledge stacked on top of each other. Ryan Holiday has a great explanation if you want to know further. I use it to note down quotes, photos I like and poems that speak to me.
Christmas in Bemmie
01 Dec 2019 Category: photos
I really love these festive walls in Bedminster. They are all over the street, shop windows and shutters. It makes it feel like a unified community.
This election
28 Nov 2019 Category: politics
I’ve been avoiding the election cycle because its just so depressing. Lies after misinformation after racist dogwhistles after lies. It’s disheartening to see people support the Tories, who have messed everything up over the last ten years. At this point it feels more like Stockholm syndrome.
Move fast and break things
25 Nov 2019 Category: poetry
We’ve found a way to monetize breath.
It’s simply a game changer. Can you feel
the paradigms shifting under your feet?
We are shaking up the world like a snowglobe
and breaking traditions. Each inhale a cent,
each exhale is free. Thats it! Simple!
After all, we are providing a service.
We could flood the atmosphere with
deadly chlorine gas, killing everyone
painlessly and quickly, but we don’t.
We allow seven billion humans to live.
So we are providing a service.
The market has responded favourably.
All hail the market! Praise stock tickers!
We’ve revolutionised food and water,
turned the...
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