End of the Road
29 Jun 2020 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from listings for the End of the Road festival in Bristol In Stereo magazine, March 2020
Statues continued
25 Jun 2020 Category: politics
After yesterday’s post, I happened to be reading The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. He writes about the reaction to the protests about Columbus statues in the nineties:
This aroused anger among defenders of the old history, who derided what they called a movement for “political correctness” and “multiculturalism”. They resented the critical treatment of Western expansion and imperialism, which they considered an attack on Western civilisation.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Colston and the Myths of History
24 Jun 2020 Category: politics
Every country is deluded in how they narrate the past. No history is complete and each history is a story shaped to make the narrators feel better. But I think here in Britain, we are more deluded than most.
The Sky is Damaged
20 Jun 2020 Category: this was meant to be the future
From her vantage point of the second highest branch, Cassie saw it first, growing over the horizon like a bruise. She often spent afternoons by herself in the garden, away from the noise of the house- The music pounding from her brother Jamie’s closed door, Sampson barking at nothing, the rumbling of the ancient boiler. Her parents constantly screaming at each other. Or worse, being polite through gritted teeth. Cassie preferred the relative silence of the garden. Birds might chirrup at each other, but it never sounded angry. For most of the Easter holidays, she had got into the habit...
Noise
17 Jun 2020 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from a review of Angel Olsen in Bristol In Stereo March edition
All change
12 Jun 2020 Category: plague notes
You may notice my website looks a little different. I have moved it from Wordpress to Jekyll, teaching myself rudimentary HTML and CSS in the process. I changed a template by DpStrange, modifying it to fit my needs. I also transferred all 278 (!) blog posts over. I honestly hadn’t realised I’d done so many, but then I’ve been working at this blogging game for the last four years. I’m pleased with the results, but it you see a problem or coding issue please let me know.
If it hadn’t been for lockdown I probably wouldn’t have started such...
Condolences
09 Jun 2020 Category: poetry
What good is this scattering over the grass,
this gold and white confetti, these eyes
opening at dawn and closing in the twilight?
These are Freya’s flowers and she is welcome
to them. We have no use for blooms. Callous gods,
you cannot substitute one beauty for another.
What help is protection now? Your garlands
are mere distractions, we have no desire
to chew on the pollen, fill our mouths
with bitter medicine. Left long enough
the petals blister our skin, we become
sun scaled. Spread them no more,...
Echoes and Edges Collaboration
03 Jun 2020 Category: publications
Echoes and edges were kind enough to set my poem How to hear the hills to an incredible deep soundtrack as part of their live stream collaboration. You can watch it here.
They also sent me an mp3 of the song and I’ve uploaded it to SoundCloud. Find that here. What they’ve done with my poem is really powerful but the whole live stream is really cool.
The end of an era
28 May 2020 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from the review pages of Crack magazine, March 2020
Among the trees
26 May 2020 Category: erasure poetry
Taken from the review pages of Crack magazine, March 2020
May in the woods
22 May 2020 Category: photos
I regret to inform you the world does not require your attention, it is still generous with its gifts.
FCIC10
20 May 2020 Category: this was meant to be the future
PhaethonOfficial: We are here at the tenth Future of Computational Intelligence conference (#FCIC10). We sponsor a number of PhD students, excited to see their findings!
ProfSam: Key note in ten minutes. Still get nervous even now. Wish me luck! #FCIC10
ElaineEvans: @ProfSam You’ll be great
Some News
14 May 2020 Category: publications
- I’m very grateful to have a poem up on Nine Muses Poetry called Imposter. It’s a strange little piece and I’m glad it’s found a good home. Check it out here
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