2019 was quite a year for me. Here’s a month-by-month account of the highlights…
January
A poem (“Canon”) is published in the online ZenoPress magazine.
February
“Diptych”, a collaboration with artist Susan Omand, is published by Burning House Press. “Cockroach”, a poem written in a workshop run by Helen Ivory, is published by Ink, Sweat & Tears. Two more poems appear in Silver Pinion.
March
Another poem appears in Silver Pinion. I participate in a well-attended reading in Bristol, organised by Paul Hawkins as part of the Bristol Poetry Festival. To my amazement and delight, lots of people buy copies of Void Voices!
At the end of March, sections of Void Voices are performed with musical accompaniment and a light show by ReVerse Butcher and COLLAGE. You can read more about the event and see video footage here.
April
April is the quietest month!
May
Two poems are published in Déraciné. A visual poem (“Pyramid”) is published in Guest magazine, edited by Anthony Etherin. A selection of poems, prose poems and digital collages are published in Open Polyversity Three.
June
Three poems appear in the new edition of Fur-Lined Ghettos. Two poems are published in The Interpreter’s House.
July
I read excerpts from Void Voices at the launch of SJ Fowler’s new book. You can see part of my performance in this video:
A selection of short texts are published (in Spanish translation) in Luvina 95. Burning House Press publish three prose poems.
August
August is dominated largely by my guest editorship of the wonderful Burning House Press. My theme is voices. You can see the whole edition, including stunning contributions by too many writers and artists to list, here. I owe Miggy Angel a massive thank-you for letting me take the helm for the whole month!
Meanwhile, visual poems from a series called “Monster” appear in Minor Literature(s) and Pamenar Press. And I’m interviewed by Rob McLennan for his blog, in which I enthuse about the work of Paul Nougé and talk about “Machine” (a project for which I am still trying to find a publisher).
September
This is a big month for me; the manuscript of a book-length sequence of visual poems called “Chimera” is accepted for publication by Penteract Press for summer 2020. Two of the poems appear in Burning House Press. Another visual poem (“Dark Matter”) is published in ToCall.
October
Two visual poems from a sequence called “The Murderer Threatened” (in which I explore tropes of detective fiction through Agatha Christie, Alain Robbe-Grillet and Cluedo) are published in Anthropocene. Another poem from the series appears in talking about strawberries all of the time. The new issue of Riggwelter features my artwork on the cover and inside. And, most excitingly, Penteract Press publish their beautiful anthology Reflections, including “Genesis”, a sequence of four visual poems.
November
Three more visual poems from “Monster” appear in Empty Mirror. Two new poems are up at Silver Pinion. Three visual poems (offshoots from “Chimera”) and an experimental piece called “An Interview with the Bird King” are published in the wonderful Wyrd Daze. Later in the month, I perform the latter, along with an excerpt from Void Voices and some other poems, at the inaugural Crash poetry event in Cardiff, organised by poet Matthew Haigh and artist Alex Stevens. Also on the bill are Vik Shirley, Matthew Haigh and Sarah Cave. Here’s me in action (I’m the one in the creepy mask). Thanks to Sarah Cave for the photo!
Some journalists who attended Crash made a brief montage of the event. The voiceover is a delightfully deadpan, surreal poem by Vik Shirley.
December
This month has been spent finalising the artwork for my forthcoming chapbook with Sampson Low, Self Portrait by Night. I also have a visual poem displayed at the Poetry Café, as part of Astra Papachristodoulou’s launch of her fabulous new book, Blockplay. The same piece features in an online exhibition called “Curiosities.”
Looking ahead
One of the main highlights of 2019 was a collaboration with artist and poet ReVerse Butcher. We hope to launch the fruits of our work into the world next year! Self Portrait by Night and Chimera will also see the (b)light of day in 2020. I have some other projects completed and in progress, which I hope will find the right publishers next year too….
