This is not a sales pitch. This is a confession. But this is not a confessional: I have nothing to be ashamed of. In May Test Centre will release my second collection of poems. It’s been six years since I published How to Build a City. It is an understatement to say that I haveContinue reading “This is not a sales pitch”
Tag Archives: Poetry and writing
A New Kind of Street Ballad
So, I didn’t quite make the Michael Marks Award. That honour rightly goes to Selima Hill for her outstanding Flarestack pamphlet. Any (mild) disappointment was erased by the privilege of hearing an exhilirating, learned and empassioned speech by Ali Smith. She was one of three judges, alongside Jo Shapcott and Richard Price. A speech so good it was republished inContinue reading “A New Kind of Street Ballad”
Aborigines
In the back, by the freezer section, I find the Aborigines, huddled together for comfort. Picking one, I draw close to inspect the bruises on its dark, leathery skin. At the checkout I am alone and temporarily forget my PIN.
Athens: Day Nine
On Sunday I performed a new piece written especially for Dasein Festival. Athens Burns (which I may post up here in full at some point) was performed with a soundtrack – I had been recording snippets of audio during the week, at the protests, on the train, in the street, etc. Oh, and this wasContinue reading “Athens: Day Nine”
Athens: Days Six, Seven, Eight
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s troubles, the organiser of Dasein Festival hastily assembled a press release to announce an event with Netalie Braun exploring the themes of Violence and Silence. The event comprised the screenings of two films, followed by a Q&A. I would like to draw your attention especially to Netalie’s hour-long film Metamorphosis (2006), which employs Ovid’s mythsContinue reading “Athens: Days Six, Seven, Eight”
Athens: Days Two, Three, Four
Yeah, so, surprise surprise I haven’t blogged every day from Athens. Hey ho… I have better things to do, such as visiting the Acropolis snapping more Athenian graffiti (oooh they do love their graffiti….) and hanging out with the artists participating in the festival. A few notes. I climbed the Acropolis with Netalie Braun, aContinue reading “Athens: Days Two, Three, Four”
Like Starlings
I’m lucky enough to have been invited to take part in Like Starlings – a poetry project organised by that very nice man Caleb Klaces. The project teams up pairs of poets in a kind of collaborative game of Chinese whispers – a creative two-step with no fixed outcomes. Tonight Like Starlings became Live Starlings at The Betsey Trotwood,Continue reading “Like Starlings”
Hack Writing
Tony Williams has reviewed The Terrors on his poetry blog. He describes it as an ‘exuberant, coherent and original pamphlet’. I’m really pleased that readers have responded so positively and creatively to this little sequence – opening up new avenues of thought, responding liberally to the material I set down. I believe Jane at Nine Arches has doneContinue reading “Hack Writing”
Poem as bullet
A typographic rukus interrupts their dense arrangement of wires; language for its own sake was alone on top of a cold building. Steel performs a shedding of skin in reverse. The snake creeps back inside. In truth, the whole metropolis is bleeding from the guts and gums. To order space when we cannot even tellContinue reading “Poem as bullet”
Gravestones & duffil coats
The Terrors, my sequence of Newgate e-missives, has been completed and sent to the publisher, Nine Arches. It’ll be launched on March 29th. Artist Emma Robertson (who is, amongst other things, behind Littlest Birds) has created some beautiful line-drawings to illustrate the pamphlet. See above. Also, writer/filmmaker Iain Sinclair has read the sequence and endorses itContinue reading “Gravestones & duffil coats”
Tom Chivers 