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Best Music of 2024
One advantage of living in the countryside is commuting into the office. I live about forty-five minutes away from the city, which is the perfect time to listen to an album. I made more of an effort to listen to new music which paid off.
Best Books of 2024
It's been a good year for books. I've finished 42 this year (here's the full list) which is a little below usual, but I've enjoyed savouring and taking my time with them. Currently I'm halfway through Don Quixote and unlikely to finish before the new year. So here are my favourite books of the year in arbitrary categories.
Three Ghosts
In this Christmas film, Tiny Tim is wrapped
in yellowed sheets, fever embracing him tight.
Unnamed family members stand round the bed
muttering 'rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb' to give
the illusion of speech. Not long to go now.
Then a swell of strings, spotlight narrows -
A miracle! Tiny Tim sits upright in bed
and starts to tell weeping extras a story of
500 Posts: Failing in Public
This is my five hundredth post on this website. I've had this site since 2016 in various forms. During that time, it's become one of the most valuable things I've done.
Dancers
All these whirring, vibrant blurs,
this rare and joyous music,
the sensation of breeze over bare skin
as I twirl in the summer sun
dizzy, exhilarated, smiling-
Custodians of the Gloaming
I have stumbled into the season of crows.
Still silhouettes watch my lethargic bones
shuffle through leaf murk into the gloom.
Sometimes Things Just Suck
CW: Death, grief and politics
Uncertainty
Erasure poem taken from Crack magazine
In lieu of flowers
those placeholders for unspoken
sorrow, please send instead
the first sunny morning in spring
when mist evaporates like breath
as buildings and smiles are preserved
in amber. Send vivid, realistic dreams
where you reunite with long dead
friends who embrace you and laugh
and ask 'Why you are so distressed,
can't you see everything is fine?'
Quick Thoughts on Sub Genres of Poetry
I hadn't been to a poetry event in a little while, so when I saw Milk Poetry were doing a special horror themed slam I signed up immediately. My work has often traded in the bizarre and surreal, mixing elements of horror in with poetry so it seemed a good fit. I performed G-Man which has become a favourite of mine. I didn't win, but that's not really the point of slams for me. It was exciting to see so many horror poets perform.