It's that time of year, the elf on the elf shelf is chanting something, it's an Anglo-Saxon elf and you start moving, keep on moving till you find yourself in a place with pictures on the walls, Rachel Pantechnicon and Clare Mulley are saying things you half understand but it feels good...

Is this the death drive...an exhortation to exit the stage? Discover the Real. But then it says 'Ambush Reality'?

Guest poets for the next couple of months at Art & Talking in #chippingnorton #oxfordshire are: Sun 3 May, Martyn Crucefix & @rehema.bsky.social; Sun 7 June, Rachel Pantechnicon + guest TBA. All at 6–8pm. zeroquality.net/art-and-talk...

Free Verse poetry book fair 12-6.30pm this afternoon, Sat 25 Apr, St Columba's Church, London. I'll be there after 3pm. poetrysociety.org.uk/projects/fre...

Samuel McCormick on split subjectivity (Lectures on Lacan) 2/2

The picture of yourself that you post online is not the same as the person who's posting that picture online. In fact, it's usually that we feel hideous as embodied beings that we turn to Instagram in hopes of posting a better picture of ourselves and popping the "like" economy in our direction. 1/2

“Young people want to come together.... They want to meet up in real life." Exactly what we are running New Gen youth festival for in #Ealing. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Our next #poetry event at Art & Talking is on Sun 12 Apr 4–6pm with David Clarke and Jane Lovell. That's 6 Middle Row, #ChippingNorton, OX7 5NH. £5 on the door. Limited open spots available (max 5 mins/2 poems)...DM if interested. zeroquality.net/art-and-talk...

Because words move...poetry & dance improv workshop with myself and choreographer Pepa Ubera coming up Friday 27 March at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham Common!

Join us at Art & Talking in #ChippingNorton on Sun 8 Mar with @mwhelanwrites.bsky.social & @zoebrooks.bsky.social for more words that make you feel something / or at least sound like they mean something. 4–6pm, £5 on the door. Bios at www.instagram.com/p/DVWFQrCiFXH/ #poetry #openmic

A short audio snippet from my Poetry Remix workshop on 13 February 2026...here Ernesto Sarezale and myself riffing off 'A Nocturnal Opera' by Eleanor Rees. This started taking a neurological turn, after the recording stopped. Next improv workshops: 6 & 27 March zeroquality.net/poetry-impro...

I'm collaborating with artist and choreographer Pepa Ubera on 27 March for a joint dance & poetry improv workshop exploring how the voice moves, how the body speaks. Details here: www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq... #poetry #dance #improvisation #workshop

A few shots from October's workshop, where we were working with fragments of existing texts torn or screwed up as a score to riff off, with Martin Lau circulating among us on his flute. See here for upcoming workshops: www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq... #poetryimprov

Poetry Remix, my next improv workshop, is coming up this Friday 13 Feb...and I will also be running a joint poetry-and-dance improv session called How the Voice Moves on 27 March with artist & choreographer Pepa Ubera. www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq...

Very excited for this!!

Planning my Poetry Improv Workshops. 13 Feb—Poetry Remix: how can we use existing texts as tools for improvisation? 6 Mar—Working the Space: how can we use the rehearsal space—its architectural features & objects within—as a source of ideas & interaction. www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq...

Poetry improv workshops coming up this spring @omnibustheatre.bsky.social in London on 13 Feb and 6 March, 7.15pm. Full details at zeroquality.net/poetry-impro...

CHANGE IN PROGRAMME: We'll now be joined on 9 February by the wonderful @lauratheis.bsky.social who will be reading alongside @matriches.bsky.social and poets from the floor at Art & Talking #ChippingNorton.

Currently racing through Alphabet Diaries by #SheilaHeti. Every sentence has a double context: the one it may have been ripped from, and the new one in the book. Lots of poetic-feeling repetition. A decade collapsed into an alphabetical present.

I am very much looking forward to reading at Art and Talking in March. It’s a lovely venue run by dedicated lovers of the arts.

People of the Chipping Nortons (or surrounding areas). Are you free at these times? Can you be free at these tiimes...If yes to either then why not come along and hear some ace poets and read some of your own..9th of Feb looks good, but those other dates are filled with stars...

Six extraordinary poets are landing at Art and Talking this spring to steer a course through the uncanny, the foolish, and the elemental: @matriches.bsky.social, Lorna Burchell, Maria Whelan, @zoebrooks.bsky.social, Jane Lovell, David Clarke Get yourself a seat and be part of the journey!

I'm wondering if there are any awards for things like poetry in the public realm or community settings? We completed Poetry High Streets in Ealing last autumn and I'd like to see if we can put it forward for anything. ealingculture.org/poetry-high-... [Image by Alex Sturrock]

One of my poetry improv experiments...I prepped for this by cycling through changing morphemes and pitches, building in intensity. When it stopped, I started speaking, and this is what came out. Kind of a lucid dreaming scenario...both watching and guiding in a remote kind of way. #poetryimprov

Our six Poetry High Streets installations around Ealing are all launched now! www.aroundealing.com/news/poetry-...

Join us for Poetry at Art & Talking in #ChippingNorton with @nessalampert.bsky.social and Zoe Brown this Monday, 3 November! Art on the walls by Pato Bosich. 7pm start and £5 entry. #openmic slots available.

When poets perform with musicians, why is it always the musician who does the improvising? This Friday the poets get a chance to make things up too, in my poetry improv workshop with sonic artist and improvisor Martin Lau. www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq... 24 Oct, 7.15pm at the Omnibus Theatre

It's #smallpublishersfair25 in London this Fri/Sat! Here's a quick link to the PDF of the Fair programme, with details of all 66 UK & international publishers, special exhibition, readings & talks: smallpublishersfair.co.uk/wp-content/u... (Print copies also available at Conway Hall on Fri/Sat)

Exciting to be on the Dithering Chaps longlist! Shortlist announced in 1 week.

Doing a bit of planning for this Friday's #poetryimprov workshop. We will be trying out some pairwork and 'a game of offers', using ideas I've borrowed from both theatre and dance #improvisation. Details and booking: www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq... 7pm at Omnibus Theatre, #ClaphamCommon.

2 poetry #improvisation workshops around #NationalPoetryDay on 10 and 24 Oct at @omnibustheatre.bsky.social (Clapham Common), 7.15–8.45pm More info & tickets from www.tickettailor.com/events/zeroq... @nationalpoetryday #play #NPD2025 #PlayWithPoetry #poetryimprov

Latest dates for Poetry at Art & Talking in #ChippingNorton, with more outstanding poets, changing exhibitions, conviviality, and open spots. Entry is £5 and shows start at 7pm. Mon 6 Oct: Tina Sederholm and Ranch Raquid Mon 3 Nov: Zoe Brown and @nessalampert.bsky.social 6 Middle Row, OX7 5NH

In the middle of John Ashberry's poem 'Clepsydra'. A form of self-erasure where I'm so focused on the present I've already lost sight of three lines ago. It's already been subducted. Become a forest of unknowing.