Tag Archives: writing

The Circus of Poetry: from Clowning to the Taming of the Lion

Three years ago I edited and published a collection of essays exploring new approaches to poetry. Stress Fractures is currently on sale for just five of your English pounds, so as a further temptation I am making my introduction to the book freely available right here. I envisaged the collection as a means of provokingContinue reading “The Circus of Poetry: from Clowning to the Taming of the Lion”

Poetry and the boundaries of plagiarism

I’m fascinated by this recent story. Christian Ward, a 32-year old poet from London with whom I’ve communicated occasionally on social networking, has been found to have plagiarised a poem by Helen Mort (whom I also know – in the real world). Christian’s poem, ‘The Deer’, won a local poetry competition in Devon, where theContinue reading “Poetry and the boundaries of plagiarism”

The Failure of Digital – Mix Conference in Untweeted Tweets

I’ve just returned from two days at Mix – a conference exploring transmedia writing and digital creativity organised by Bath Spa University. Predictably the conference venue, the beautiful Jacobean mansion Corsham Court, had no public Wifi and even 3G coverage was incredibly patchy (although the cakes were plentiful). Not one to be deterred from emittingContinue reading “The Failure of Digital – Mix Conference in Untweeted Tweets”

Michael Marks Award

I had some good news of late. My sequence of ‘imagined emails’ The Terrors has been shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets. Here’s the full shortlist: The Terrors Tom Chivers (Nine Arches Press) The Titanic Café closes its doors and hits the rocks, David Hart (Nine Arches Press) Advice on Wearing Animal Prints, Selima HillContinue reading “Michael Marks Award”

Poem by Iain Sinclair

Considering his prolific output in the realms of fiction, non-fiction, urban satire and – as he puts it – ‘documentary fiction’, it’s sometimes easy to forget how significant and exciting a writer of poetry Iain Sinclair is. I’ve had the Penguin Modern Poets book (Vol.10, 1996) in which he appears, alongside Douglas Oliver and Denise Riley, on loan from the PoetryContinue reading “Poem by Iain Sinclair”

Mythogeography

Bombardment of information about a new book by Phil Smith from Triarchy Press – Mythogeography: A Guide to Walking Sideways. There’s a video for starters. And a separate website for anyone interesting in the concept of Mythogeography. To be honest, this is totally my kind of thing. Part lecture, part creative wandering, part esoteric conspiracy theory. A blendContinue reading “Mythogeography”

The cities we walk through

My copy of the Autumn issue of Poetry London popped through the post today (Post, you say? Oh yeah – ) and lo and behold it contains a review – the first in print – of my book How To Build A City. I’m pretty ecstatic. That horribly talented Luke Kennard was tasked with perusingContinue reading “The cities we walk through”

Poets take up a new muse – modern technology

‘The poet’s muse is traditionally a goddess with long flowing hair, emblem in hand – but for a new generation of poets the muse is a digital native with WiFi access and an iPod. Tom Chivers is a 26-year-old poet living in East London who in recent years has found he wants to let technologicalContinue reading “Poets take up a new muse – modern technology”