News

From mid-October I will be studying MA Publishing at the University of the Arts, London.

I’ve been trying to get into the publishing industry since completing my undergraduate degree, and after two years this is the logical step to take. The UAL course is actually the only one I applied to, as I was really attracted to its focus on practical skills and actual bookmaking; I find publishing incredibly interesting but looking at the course content for other universities made me feel quite disdainful. But the one I’ve been accepted to seems genuinely engaging, and I intend to make as much use of the book-related facilities as possible while there.

Hopefully in the next year or so I’ll help boost the appalling 13 per cent figure for working-class people in the publishing industry.

My poem fragile muse has been published as part of the blood orange experimental poetry tarot.

the skin of half intended sleep
slips free of velvet, gentle jaw
drawing shoreline   […]

The poem will represent the upright Two of Cups in the forthcoming deck.

I originally wrote it around the Queen of Cups card in the White Sage deck, which depicts an otter basking in the water with a cup of tea in one hand and waving with the other. As the card—known in the blood orange tarot as the Creator of Cups—had just been assigned a different poem, the editor suggested some alternatives, which is how I ended up with the Two of Cups. Although it’s not what I intended I feel like the poem fits the card well, so I’m happy with the outcome.

The piece is able to be read in full here, and blood orange continues to accept submissions so if you’re interested in contributing do have a look at what cards are still available.

To celebrate the launch of the second edition of Astropolis by Astra Papachristodoulou (pub. Hesterglock Press), as well as the launch of the NeoptiCo Collectiv, Poem Atlas is hosting the Future-Facing exhibition, online until September 15th.

From the exhibition page:

Sometimes in the rush to predict the future, we tend to forget that we are shaping it. This exhibition of visual poetry and photography offers a kaleidoscope of potential futures and challenges our complex relationship with technology – each NeoptiCo Collective member adds their own interpretation of this theme using their own unique poetic voice. We are proud to present this exhibition which offers a glimpse into Neo-Futurist poetics.

The exhibition can be viewed in full here, though please note that after September 15th 2020 the link will likely no longer work.

My piece floral mimicry subtypes in humans will be featured in the forthcoming Rewilding anthology, published by the Crested Tit Collective. It involves visual aspects similar to those seen in my whynow illustrated responses, as well as handwriting as opposed to typography, aiming to give the impression of reworked field notes.

The anthology will be “on the topic of ecology, including but not limited to: poetry, essays, ephemera, objects and art”. Other poets featured, as well as CTC members, include Astra Papachristodoulou, Karen Sandhu, CA Conrad, and Aaron Kent; the full list of contributors can be found here.

My poem frames per second has been published by Re-Side.

in that sense / sense that in creating
the figure an attachment forms
between forms in claymation

Part of the sixth issue and on the topic of connections, each writer was randomly assigned a word from a list to be included in the first line, and the final line had to include the following word in the list. My words were “replaceable” and “sister”. It was the latter that I struggled with most, so I focused on the former, and ended up writing a poem about stop-motion puppetry. More specifically, I mainly wrote about Blood Tea and Red String by Christiane Cegavske. I was ill a lot when I was younger and I often found myself watching the film on my laptop while laying in bed, dozing in and out to the adventures of the strange creatures therein.

The issue is available to be read in full here.