poem: three pounds of flax
if it's anything its this — the serenity within the surge — the weight of sweatshop labour in my moth-eaten fast fashion bed shirt — the four-by-four driver...
Why the Whitechapel Fatberg is my Guru
This is actually the Belgravia fatberg but I liked this image I've been an on/off follower of meditation practices for the last thirty years. I've done so as...
Thursday poem: on distraction
There are things that must be done and the mind must keep chugging down a single track of pure intention.But what's that? Don't look at it.It's the big...
Poem: count them!
on the concrete perimetersedging the grass vergeson the denmark hill estateI count at least fifty snails coaxed out by nightlong rainfrom green bristly...
Bringing a hacker mentality to problematic art
Being that this is a hot cracker of an issue, I'd like to start out by stating what I won't be talking about in this essay. I won't be talking about the...
Thursday poem: slow curve
thinning sunlight spindles through leaves but a spiteful breeze still snicks between my bones my youngest doesn't like it when I copy her actions – like...
Thursday poem: this humdrum day with its unwieldy hours shot through with brilliant fragments
this humdrum day [1]with its unwieldy hours [2]shot through [3]with brilliant fragments [4] [1] this humdrum day… My day (1.1) is no more interesting than...
Blade Runner: Rick Deckard's Ambivalent Humanity
This essay contains plot spoilers for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. If you haven’t watched it then you really should. I had two big insights this week. The...
Thursday Poems: Barely Present and Feedback
barely present wooden beams prop up balcony alcoves – the shifting pre-war brickwork of a private estate a buddha plonked full lotus among stunted laurels...
Poem: Just You Wait Til I Get You Home
I once saw the lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys sat across from me on the District Line. Me and the kids were heading back from lunch with my wife at a...
Why I'm not done with London (though London might be done with me)
When thinking about London I often remember Peter Ackroyd doing the rounds at the turn of the century to promote his book, "London:The Biography". When...
On the Poetry of Shogun
This essay contains spoilers for the 2024 television adaptation of Shogun and also features descriptions of the Japanese ritual of seppuku. A lot has already...
Art and Labour, Part 3: Video Games
Art and Labour, Part 3: Video Games A pink bear plods along a beachfront just after dawn. She is singing a little song to herself. She has no memory of the...
Art and Labour, Part Two: Poetry
Last week I wrote about cinema and labour after watching Wim Wender's Perfect Days and feeling conflicted with respect to how the film portrays the value and...
Art and Labour, Part One: Cinema
This week, I got round to watching the new Wim Wenders film, Perfect Days and it left me feeling thoroughly moved and inspired but conflicted at the same...
What did Transcendence (2014) Get Right About AI and Freedom?
This essay contains plot spoilers for the 2014 science fiction film, Transcendence, as well as discussion of the final shot of Christopher Nolan's Inception....
A False Universe of Pure Imagery
2012 was the year I became a father, the year of the London Olympics and my first year of teaching an undergraduate module on Poetry and Performance. I had...
Frank (2014): Papier-mâché Heads and Grass Shoes
This essay contains major plot spoilers for the 2014 film, Frank. My analysis of the film runs from the second paragraph onwards. I wrote an essay a couple...
Does Dune Part 2 Have a Post Credit Scene? (Or, how you can't capitalism your way out of a situation you weren't willingly capitalismed into)
I'm part of the problem. I know that I am one of billions who find themselves idly scrolling during moments of boredom and restlessness, when I can't just...
What is Spoken Word in 2024?
I have fallen out of touch with the Spoken Word and live literature scenes in the city I live in (and all the cities and towns beyond it). This is sad...
