Obscured
29 Apr 2021 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from an Independent from the start of this year.
Generative
26 Apr 2021 Category: poetry
we teach the AI how we scream feed it all our voices alone release all our agony our grief our childhood trauma buried fears our compressed nightmares absorbed into passive microphones into the night it runs iterations so fast it echoes back Our grunts our exhalations distorted an angelic choir united strange harmony
Written during a Red Sky Session with Apples and Snakes, this was a response to a music loop by Bellatix.
Red Ink: Elizabeth McGeown
22 Apr 2021 Category: red ink
This is a series where I interview poets about their process in regards to a single poem. Today we have the fantastic Elizabeth McGeown, who I have been lucky enough to meet at various poetry nights over zoom in the last year.
Larvae
On telling a friend I am writing to an insect theme
and finding out months later she has assumed I meant maggots
But Maggots do not cross my mind at all:
the plump rot-seeking them of single mind.
Fat little white and wriggling shits with gall,
but Maggots do not...
Journal entry
21 Apr 2021 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from an old New Yorker
I used a number of images from unsplash for this one from All Bong, Sean Pollock, Daniel Chen and Matthew Henry.
Dawn Ritual
20 Apr 2021 Category: poetry
I spin each morning from dream silk
allow soft light to pour in a torrent
from my ears out into the aether.
Lost chorus ripples from unseen branches.
I am anointed. This is how I drift
without touching the dew damp ground,
absolution in waves over my skin.
Pixels
16 Apr 2021 Category: poetry
As part of the Red Sky Sessions with Apples and Snakes, we were asked to chose a painting from the MOMA collection. We then either wrote about the character or adapted a technique from the painting. I tried to ape the tecnique of this self portrait by Andy Warhol.
Red Ink: Ankh Spice
15 Apr 2021 Category: red ink
This is a series where I interview poets about their process in regards to a single poem. Today I am honoured to have the incredible Ankh Spice, whose poetry I have enjoyed for a long time on Twitter. Here, he talks about his love poem New Cloth.
New Cloth
Your pattern pinned itself to the fray of me
the first day. Not yet stitched, aligning
fragile tissue, judging bias – the wounded
cut carefully
always holding their breath.
March 2021 Recommended
07 Apr 2021 Category: link round up
This is a bit late because of Easter. Spring is in the air, the tulips have taken over from the daffodils and freedom feels tantalisingly close.
Here’s some things I liked in March:
Count Down to Infinity
05 Apr 2021 Category: poetry
I’m working front desk at the Hilbert Hotel.
A queue of guests stretches to the horizon,
each person sighing, waiting to check out.
Some leave but the number never goes down.
No matter how quickly I work, more remain.
The amount of disgruntled guests is infinite.
The Date
01 Apr 2021 Category: poetry
After Kay Ryan
She’s silent, stiff. You drum fingers
on pressed linen. The waiter brings
red wine. Only one glass. Your mind
is filled with dust spirals and wind.
You order steak, but she doesn’t eat.
Clarity
26 Mar 2021 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from DIY Magazine.
Osmosis press have featured a poem of mine called relocation. Many thanks to them. Find it here
Emerald Swell
17 Mar 2021 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from a old New Yorker, no idea which issue.
I’ve added a verse to Joined Up Writing, following on from the last line of the previous verse. Find that here.
Also the daffodils are exploding everywhere and it feels good.
Free From Distortion
11 Mar 2021 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from a old New Yorker, no idea which issue.
A few bits of news:
-
I made a really strange puzzle page for the latest issue of Welcome to Bear Creek. Thanks so much to them. The whole issue is strange and beautiful, go check it out.
-
Sam Cavender (who shot the headshot on my home page) took this crazy UV portrait of me in a park. (We were socially distant at all times.) He is an actual wizard:
Check out his
February 2021 Recommended
03 Mar 2021 Category: link round up
At the end of this month there was a burst of sunshine and the daffodils we buried in November erupted in their pots. This sudden explosion of sun and colour always reminds me of this E. E. Cummings poem and this one by Jack Underwood.1
With the start of Spring and the vaccine rolling out I am allowing myself some tentative hope for the next few months. Brighter days are ahead, fingers crossed.
Here’s a few other things I enjoyed this month.
Film
I turned 33 in February2 and celebrated by...
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