Six (in(secure)) Poems: ‘from the knotweed sonnets’ by Andrew McMillan (2020) in Granta: The Magazine of New Writing Issue 151 (Spring 2020) 123 – 126. Some poems speak of those things in our life of which there is no resolution. These poems need not even speak of resolution, since they are presented to us as … More Six (in(secure)) Poems: ‘from the knotweed sonnets’ by Andrew McMillan (2020) in Granta issue 151

Reclaiming space – a project in Black British identity in Derek Owusu’s (2019) edited essays by Black British men Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space London, Trapeze, Hachette UK company. Identity politics is going through a bad time. One reason for this is, as Derek Owusu, the editor of and a contributor to this … More Reclaiming space – a project in Black British identity in Derek Owusu’s (2019) (editor) essays by Black British men ‘Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space’

Book into film: André Carl Van Der Merwe (2006) Moffie New York, Europa Editions & film (2020) by Oliver Hermanus Starring: Kai Luke Brummer,  Matthew Vey &  Ryan de Villiers available at: https://www.curzonhomecinema.com/film/watch-moffie-film-online Usually we compare films to books to the favour of the book. In this case the comparison shouldn’t perhaps be laden with any … More Book into film: André Carl Van Der Merwe (2006) ‘Moffie’ New York, Europa Editions & film (2020)

NOTE BY BLOGGER: Sometimes a blog makes you query why you create blogs at all. This is the case here. I started with the view that there was a sub-textual message to the volume that promised a way of reviewing our queer lives. As I approached it’s end, I realised that the elegiac poems, although … More ‘Our life is a theophany.’ Reflecting on Seán Hewitt’s (2020) ‘Tongues of Fire’.

Written in drafting preparation for a longer piece: ‘Our life is a theophany.[1] … Reflecting on Seán Hewitt’s (2020a) Tongues of Fire London, Jonathon Cape. FOR NOW THEN: Partial piece: reading Callery Pear Hewitt (2020: 35) In a statement about this book, Hewitt summarises the connection in it of some key themes: the reflexive examination … More Partial piece: reading Seán Hewitt’s ‘Callery Pear’ in Hewitt’s ‘Tongues of Fire’ (2020: 35)

‘Try the occupation of your imagination.[1] … “End the Pre-Occupation”’. Reflecting on Colum McCann’s (2020) Apeirogon London, Bloomsbury Publishing. Certain words have power. Near the end of the novel whilst the Palestinian peace-campaigner, Bassam, a character based on interviews with the ‘real person’ of that name and role (shown above), speaks at a conference he … More ‘Try the occupation of your imagination. … “End the Pre-Occupation”’. Reflecting on Colum McCann’s (2020) ‘Apeirogon’: Booker 2020 Selection 1

‘Everywhere needs its creation myth’. Reflecting on Rishi Dastidar’s (2020) Saffron Jack Rugby, Nine Arches Press. …those of us from backgrounds where poetry writing is not a common way of spending time … are more familiar with the whisper, the critique, the rejection that, while the work is good, it is in some way lacking … More ‘Everywhere needs its creation myth’. Reflecting on Rishi Dastidar’s (2020) ‘Saffron Jack’

The Meaning of Exhibitions in major national collections: Reflecting on the absence of Sin in London between 15th April to 5th July. Stimulus for reflection Joost Joustra’s (2020) Sin: The Art of Transgression London, National Gallery Company Ltd. Mark Brown’s preview of this exhibition in December for The Guardian uses the title, ‘National Gallery Hopes … More The Meaning of Exhibitions in major national collections: Reflecting on the absence of Sin in London between 15th April to 5th July. Joustra’s (2020) ‘Sin: The Art of Transgression’

1st draft to be reviewed when I have energy. May be lots of errors. “Still … something to resolve”: Unending incompletion in Temple Drake (aka Rupert Thomson) [2020] ‘NVK’ London, Titan Books. They have the best stories too – … In a typical zhiguai, a mode of expression now viewed as giving a voice to … More “Still … something to resolve”: Unending incompletion in Temple Drake (aka Rupert Thomson) [2020] ‘NVK’ London, Titan Books.

Managing the ‘discipline, that really mad level of self-control’.[1] Gay Fictional Autobiography and social change in Adam Mars-Jones (2020) Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem London, Fitzcarroldo Editions. A fictional autobiography is a novel in which a fictional persona tells part of their life-story ending at the moment the novel is written. For this … More Managing the ‘discipline, that really mad level of self-control’. Gay Fictional Autobiography and social change in Adam Mars-Jones (2020) ‘Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem’

‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd Cambridge, Galileo Publishers. We never write a life: we, or least Charlotte Peacock, writes the meaning of the patch of time between life and death. This large project starts with smaller acts in which … More ‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) ‘Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd’

‘I can smell him from across the room’[1]: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books. Making art from unacknowledged ambivalence between desire and disgust about the body for the 21st Century. ‘I can smell him from across the room’. This is a brief sentence that tells us very little, say for … More ‘I can smell him from across the room’: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books.