Surreal-Absurd Sampler David Greenslade
During lockdown I explored the idea of immobility -- especially the sessile animal known as the sponge. I began to think of myself as a sessile being . . .
I Download a Baby
These poems are primarily about isolation and the anxiety associated with feeling different, strange, and alone. Another major thread is that of the absurdity of life, and the futility of trying to project any meaning onto it. At times these anxieties manifest themselves as humour, at other times, as surreal dreams or nightmares.
Jean Paul Sartre’s Scratch ‘n’ Sniff Badge Maker
This was written after remembering a gallery show by the fashion label Boudicca. Visitors were given white badges to wear, which were sprayed with the label's signature perfume, Wode, initially making the badge blue, which then slowly disappeared as if by magic, leaving nothing but the white badge plus the scent.
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Mark Russell
The poems here are from a new project titled It’s Going To Be a Long Night, Melissa. They mine the ways in which we deceive and are deceived; how our pursuit of meaning and intimacy so persistently misfires; how unremitting is the absurdity, and yet how heartily we laugh into it.
Afterlives
The inspiration for these two poems comes from the nature of time and the inner workings of the natural world, from the subatomic to the cosmological.
Parade (and other poems)
These poems are from a manuscript composed entirely of prose poems.
Angela (and other poems)
Just to show off, or win an argument, or just out of spite, Angela would die in meetings. It became a joke in the staff room – did you know who did you know what, again? I would be embarrassed. I could die better than she can. But she was ingenious. And she had done her homework.
The Tale of the Elephant Tail
It is well known that people of means prove their status in society by indulging in luxuries that few can afford. Some may prefer an over-priced artwork by a master, while the more adventurous among us will no doubt include an elephant hunt on their bucket list.
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Judson Hamilton
"These poems are from a manuscript I’m working on called The Vogue for Flatness, so we’re still learning about one another. Poems for me are a way to filter the world, to make sense of it, to live in it. Perhaps it’s having been raised in suburbia or a childhood steeped in comics and cable TV, but there seems to me no other honest way to do this than through the surreal, absurd, and grotesque." - Judson Hamilton
A Knife in the Face
Cai Draper flows seamlessly between prose and poetry to recount his days as a kitchen worker. The anger, the stress, the pressure, the long hours and the occasional threats of horrendous violence all laid bare.
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Charles J. March III
Charles J March III gives us a new exegesis of the holy scriptures.
Can Feminism Create a Better World for All People?
Though feminism has often been misinterpreted as a movement that fights for female superiority in a world predominantly structured for men, in recent years, there has been a widespread drive to show that feminism fights for all people regardless of their sex and gender.
Fungi
These visual poems sit on a line between facts and aesthetics. Factual statements about the natural world, in this case about a type of fungi, are cut up randomly, and the resultant prose mixed with photographic images.
Surreal-Absurd-Sampler Brian Clifton
“There was a game I used to play as a child. My friends and I would turn off the lights of a room and stare at each other's faces. Because we could only see vague outlines, our imaginations would fill in the details, would distort the faces we knew until they were strange and stranger. I think these experiences are related to seeing the surreal blossom in the contemplated mundane.”
Curators Conversation: Entanglements in Time
‘Entanglements in Time’ is an exhibition at Lewisham Arthouse in London from 6-15 August 2021, showcasing UK-based artists Bart Hajduk, Jasmin Märker, Kristina Pulejkova, Margo Trushina, Solveig Settemsdal and Yambe Tam. Exhibited together for the first time, the works of these artists challenge anthropocentric markers of temporality by examining timelines that stretch far beyond the duration of human existence. On the show’s last days, co-curators Kristine Tan and Mariana Lemos came together to discuss the project.
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Glen Armstrong
“I’ve been writing requiems for people I admire lately, some of them fictional, some of them still alive. These folks may have ended up on gum wrappers or Mr. Cobain’s t-shirt or Mr. Zapruder’s movie. They usually share a unique talent that still can’t compensate for a unique and profound sadness. These are a few of those requiems.”
Bad For Glass
A deep dive into the literary puddle. Water has long been an elemental trope throughout literature, for the moving target of the swimmer, a medium of agency and transition; for the spectator, a fateful mirror, an abyss that both reflects and absorbs.
Slate Petals, Untravelling, and the Kazimir Effect
Poetry of Life - Project Jupiter
Penteract Press focuses on exploring the structural properties of poetry, promoting innovative constraint-based and visual poetry, as well as works that explore traditional verse forms. This article showcases three Penteract authors: Anthony Etherin, Mary Frances, and Christian Bök.
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Surreal-Absurd Sampler Matthew Haigh
“The two sets of poems here are the results of experiments with the cut-up technique. Both sets centre around cult television shows with a warm, gay-icon slant (The Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote respectively). “
The never-ending quest…
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