the last of…

So here’s Iain Sinclair, talking about London while wandering in Haggerston Park and Bethnal Green: He’s sadder here than I’ve ever seen him. He talks in the film about how London has changed into something he can no longer engage with – that writers in general can engage with – in any particularly constructive way.Continue reading “the last of…”

machine cycle upgrade

“Expelled as commander to be integrated as connector, the human is transformed by its own works from a brain legislating life to a ligament binding machine cycles.” Brian Massumi, quoted by Pierre Joris in “Nomad Poetics” I stayed in a Mercure Hotel last night (the picture’s the view from my room), and was struck byContinue reading “machine cycle upgrade”

Travelling to Avebury

It’s World Poetry Day today. I wanted to post something by Louis Zukofsky – just been having a great time reading his collected shorter poems – but his son is very protective of his copyrights, so there’s very little of him available online. Instead, two other offerings. First of all, one of his poetic colleaguesContinue reading “Travelling to Avebury”

A poem for Kenneth Rexroth

Yes, there is always poetry lending meaning from language to us, this world. Yes, there is art and here is the world, and us; here before each poem, then after changed and unchanged. I think of lava, how Kenneth Rexroth described it – here and no more. Burning into stone as if fluid vision canContinue reading “A poem for Kenneth Rexroth”

New story, new gig, new cool thing

A quick post, as there’s much news at Allumination Towers this week. First of all, even as we speak the new Black Static is hitting the streets, with my story ‘De Profundis’ in it, plus much other groovy stuff. You can order it from the TTA Press website, and it should also be available inContinue reading “New story, new gig, new cool thing”

Reviewing ‘The City and The City’

Well, I’ve just finished China Miéville’s superb new book, ‘The City and The City’. It’s utterly gripping, a noir-ish police procedural with an Eastern European feel that both builds on, reacts against and moves beyond the concerns and achievements of his previous novels. So you’ve probably worked out that I’d recommend it to anyone whoContinue reading “Reviewing ‘The City and The City’”

Lovecraft, Olson and ‘The Mayan Letters’

Well, it’s been a fascinating morning of pondering Lovecraft’s roots in Ovid. Don’t believe me? Well, I’m not going to go into detail here – still working out exactly what I think – but in brief I think the link builds on Ovid’s status as the great poet of transformation in ‘Metamorphosis’, and the chroniclerContinue reading “Lovecraft, Olson and ‘The Mayan Letters’”