tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25099577099632736072024-03-12T17:27:53.310-07:00Never Mind the Beasts OldThis is the old address for Never Mind the Beasts.
Please update your bookmarks to:
https://nevermindthebeasts.com/marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.comBlogger2237125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-57106649363207463412018-05-08T01:22:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:44.781-07:00HOW TO LOVE THE OUTLAWAt a panel on Polish poetry, with the poet and artist Grzegorz Wroblewski, one of the audience members, clearly annoyed, said he was sick of the idea of the artist as outsider. The theme of alienation in art. I replied that yes some artists and writers in history are also insiders, movers and shakers, but that artists and writers, by being outside in some fashion, have something valuable to contribute to society, as the observer, and perhaps trickster, and can provide new ways of seeing and questioning, an aid against inflexibility and rigidity.<br /><br />When I read some poems from <i>The Spirit of the Bathtub</i> later in the evening, a lecturer of Polish culture and literature, a little drunk and very annoyed, complained about my poems written about Poland. If "about" is really the right word. She said that Polish people were already exotic enough in London and my writing was exorcizing them more. I looked at my other writing later and I could see it was not limited to Poland. The speaker in my poems is a kind of outsider in many cultures and countries. Also, what is culture and is it always sacred? Yes, of course there are power dynamics to consider sometimes, the domination and destruction of less powerful cultures by more powerful cultures, but I do not find culture sacred, it is often another commodity, traded and sold, usually, or used for nationalistic purposes.<br /><br />In a well written review of my new book <i>The Spirit of the Bathtub</i>, the reviewer mentioned the theme of alienation and also individualism. They also talk about some existential bummers.<br /><br />All of this is on my mind because tonight I am teaching "Sasquatch," a short story by Tao Lin, at the International Institute in Madrid, and the main character, Chelsea, is clearly an outsider, alienated. The narrators of the stories of Sam Pink are also outsiders. I gravitate towards outsiders. Why? What can they offer?<br /><br />Well, I don't think being an outsider always means being alienated for one. Or at least painfully alienated. They don't always have to go hand in hand. But sometimes they are clearly outsiders in great pain.<br /><br />The artist as an outsider in great pain has become a stereotype, just look at all the movies about writers and artists as alienated loners. We could of course point to a culture that does not value the artist, unless they are in the service of capital. The artist as shaman is certainly of little value for capital. So yes we could move in that direction. The alienated artist because of society. And that is certainly true. But this is of course problematic and I think that is partly what the audience member during the Polish poetry panel was referring to. The self reinforced stereotype of the artist as self destructive. There are of course many books about writers and alcoholism, writers and depression, and there does seem to be an unusually high number of writers and artists with so-called mental health issues. The danger is assuming that in order to become an artist, in the romantic sense, you need to become self destructive. Or, if you are generally happy and adjusted to the mores of society, why write or create art?<br /><br />But I think it is, in part, not an either/or. You don't have to be completely adjusted to society (does such a case exist) or completely alienated. By being somewhere in-between, and helping to keep the borders porous, maybe some artists provide a great service. Can it be measured? Probably not.<br /><br />Existing outside as an observer, as well as inside, is a common technique of meditation. The difference is perhaps that you don't need to react, just observe, accept, let go.<br /><br />For such a long time, I tried to jump to letting go. But that just created repression of my emotions, desires, fears etc. Maybe art, as Aristotle suggested with drama, can act as a kind of purging. We just need to know how to let go, and to do it skilfully. If we don't observe and accept, we might repress, but if we only observe without letting go, we might spiral and end up feeding the emotion, helping them grow larger and larger, out of control.<br /><br />I think a lot of my favourite artists are outsiders, or outlaws, and also skilful at letting go, at least in their art. I cannot speak to their so-called personal lives. I mean artists like Bernadette Mayer, Frank O'Hara, Eileen Myles, Lydia Davis. They can see the world as outsiders and outlaws, but they are not clinging to this, not weighed down by it in their writing. They have a lightness of touch as observers and outsiders. I think that is the kind of outsider art I am drawn towards. Why? Well, for me at least, it makes me fee less alone and more connected with other human beings, in other words less alienated, more accepting. Also, with looking from an outsider position, everything becomes less serious, and there is less clinging. All of this can be done with a light touch, and often humorously, like Lydia Davis, for example. The outsider/insider/outlaw writer par excellence. The artist as trickster, crossing borders, another form of the shaman in modern culture.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFx_Y0RlbR0/WvFbd1gFk9I/AAAAAAAAaOc/dtXAwy9-Md0SVaoE3DHmZiknHXBb8eyHQCLcBGAs/s1600/Davis-Lydia-HIGH-RES-c-Theo-Cote-682x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFx_Y0RlbR0/WvFbd1gFk9I/AAAAAAAAaOc/dtXAwy9-Md0SVaoE3DHmZiknHXBb8eyHQCLcBGAs/s640/Davis-Lydia-HIGH-RES-c-Theo-Cote-682x1024.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-78212448985843445642018-05-07T03:05:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:44.995-07:00HOW TO FEEL LESS LONELY<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are so many places in the world and the grass is always greener. If we are lucky and live in rich countries with professional jobs, or live simply, we can migrate to many new countries for work. We can try to find that perfect new homeland for living, or if not a homeland at least a place for renewal and adventure.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But when we get there, depending on our expectations, maybe we are disappointed. The great let-down. Wasn't I supposed to feel happier when I moved to this or that place. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I want to come home. But home is not out there. I have traveled and lived all over the world and each time I thought this might be it, home, but it wasn't. Yes, some places have been better for my well-being than others, but there is no sense of coming home.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">There is sometimes a sense of coming home after a journey with my whole mind, body, and soul, but it is a certain kind of journey. You cannot package it. It is not for sale. It is a wild journey. The surrealist poets and artists often took this journey and left us aids for the journey, their art. We can renew ourselves with the alienation of wild art. It is a great journey and also coming home.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Zen teacher Joan Halifax says it best: </span><br /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Everybody has a geography that can be used for change that is why we travel to far off places. Whether we know it or not we need to renew ourselves in territories that are fresh and wild. We need to come home through the body of alien lands.</i></span><br /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7PqF2FSB3wo/WvAkmEWjDnI/AAAAAAAAaNs/23rdoPp737AaYwosN4426CHmN6wy3IHbwCLcBGAs/s1600/joan%2Bhalifax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7PqF2FSB3wo/WvAkmEWjDnI/AAAAAAAAaNs/23rdoPp737AaYwosN4426CHmN6wy3IHbwCLcBGAs/s640/joan%2Bhalifax.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-8295975477237924012018-05-07T01:29:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.162-07:00HOW TO RENEW YOURSELF WITH TRAVEL<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h4K-hS4LHOs/WvIhg2_b1dI/AAAAAAAAaPE/WqEKoP5Q6mAxV-47XKc9ddn4Js-LZ_37ACLcBGAs/s1600/bill%2Bbissett%2Bblumoon%2Bman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="599" height="382" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h4K-hS4LHOs/WvIhg2_b1dI/AAAAAAAAaPE/WqEKoP5Q6mAxV-47XKc9ddn4Js-LZ_37ACLcBGAs/s640/bill%2Bbissett%2Bblumoon%2Bman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">blumoon man by bill bissett</span></span></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Why do we travel? I mean, the real reasons. I am not talking about traveling for work, out of necessity, but holidays. The weekend getaway. The summer and winter breaks. The islands and exotic locations. What are we looking for?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The travel industry is one of the biggest on our planet. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel industry generated 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016. We are looking for something obviously.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do we travel to escape our mundane lives? That is surely one of the biggest reasons. But often, at least from my own experiences, we bring our fears and anxieties with us. Some of us, me included, might even panic a little without the comforts (and pains) of our daily routines. And yet the allure of kicking back on the beach with a cocktail, with the turquoise water of the Mediterranean, while a cliche, is hard to resist. We want new scenery to refresh ourselves. We all know stress (too much or too little) affects the quality of our lives and we are told a recreational holiday will renew us. Keep us fresh and productive workers. Employers know this and give us paid holidays. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For many, the package holiday is compelling. We don't have to worry about food and entertainment. Everything is taken care of. And yes, that is one kind of holiday. But does it really help to fully recreate and refresh us?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Recreation is RE CREATION. Maybe you have heard that before. But it is good to contemplate. Do our holidays enable us to really RE CREATE ourselves? Do new environments really RE CREATE us? </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life." That's Alain de Botton. I think he is onto something.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yes we are "tethered" to our everyday obligations, worries, and fears, but most importantly we are often "tethered" to the idea of permanence and trying to cling to it. Permanence is an illusion. The Buddhists tell us this and we can check it out for ourselves. Take a look around. Everything is always changing. Nothing is permanent. I have to keep reminding myself. It is not easy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I lived in Poland, I remember visiting Krakow and seeing the tourists flock to comfort zones. The British tourists to British pubs for British food and beer and football. Maybe, out of guilt, some cultural excursions. While living in Turkey, especially around the southern Antalya province, I also noticed the same thing. British pubs, British all day breakfasts, fish and chips, and so on. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So yes, we want to recreate ourselves but we also want the familiar from our daily routines. I understand the appeal. However, for me at least, I feel most renewed with surprise, awe, and stepping out of the familiar. It doesn't come right away. I start off by clinging. Worrying what's for breakfast in the new place, the best deals for lunch, trying to get myself situated. But when I am able to let go, a</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">llowing for the new environment to refresh me by not clinging to the familiar, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">time mostly disappears, or at least the clinging to it, and I feel the most free and happy. I am s</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">eeing the world again as if for the first time, because it really is the first time. The Buddhists call this beginner's mind. You don't have to travel, of course, to experience beginner's mind, but it can be one of the ways.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The mind is the source of suffering and pleasure, but the environment, of course, plays a factor. Stepping out of the familiar. That, perhaps, is the source of our recreation. Traveling as a way to see things as they really are, forever changing. Spontaneous travel can help us recover our curiosity. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here is another piece of wisdom, this time from the great Zen teacher Alan Watts: </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Real travel requires a maximum of unscheduled wandering, for there is no other way of discovering surprises and marvels, which, as I see it, is the only good reason for not staying at home.</i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> the child's mind, open and curious. For me, it is the greatest source of recreation. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This child-like beginner's mind can renew us. Lots of wisdom teachers tell us about the importance of beginner's mind. Jesus said to become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. What is it about children? Again, look around, they are naturally curious, in the moment, not clinging to the past or future, a beginner's mind. It seems, at least from my experience, as we get older and become aware of mortality and death, we cling more and more to the illusion of permanence. For me, that is the source of most of my suffering. My mind trying to hold on too tightly. I am most happy in the moment, fully immersed and also observing, curious and open. We can't make sense of change. Here, again, is Alan Watts:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The dance of life. What a great mystery! </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="height: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">x</span></div>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-18892998664391753472018-05-06T12:01:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.329-07:00THE REBIRTH OF THE SHAMANThere are so many of them. Don't you get tired. Reading all those words. Dry lifeless fossilised language. Every technology leaves something behind. There is a cost, always, with traveling from one technology to another. For example from oral literature to written, and now, maybe the omega point, the internet.<br /><br />Words, there are too many of them, and we drowning. Brevity works better for the rewiring of the brain via the internet and social media. Of course there are visuals too. And the internet is full of visuals. Cave paintings. Or, perhaps, images with words, the memes. Soon we will be drowning in memes.<br /><br />The powerful words are oral, even when written. Voice is everything, or almost. We crave the intimacy of the human voice and this will increase as we move further and further into the virtual realities of the internet. The return to orality in literature is not a new thing. The American golden age of poetry, beginning in the late 1950s with the beats, and also flourishing with the NY School all through the 1970s, and still going, is largely oral and speech based art. The human voice. But it was also there, at the birth of an American literary tradition distinct from the British, more specifically with the primitive energies of Walt Whitman. And yes, we have been always going back there, the primitive, and the oral. Sometimes the pull back there, to the primitive oral is a strong pull, and sometimes weak. When it is a strong pull, there is a strong pull the other way. We are always going there, into the unknown, with the birth of the new. But that's not right either because the past is unknown too.<br /><br />Are we moving forwards, backwards, both or neither. Things are changing folks, per always. But also, there is never a blank slate. We carry everything with us, all those older technologies, especially of the sacred, but their pull is sometimes weak and sometimes strong.<br /><br />Where are you traveling to and will words help you get there. This is a great mystery only you can answer. My answer is that all the great word artists are shamans, travelers, between worlds, sometimes tricksters, mostly unnoticed, part of the ancient primitive.<br /><br />But don't get me wrong. I am not talking about the hokey spiritual stuff, full of cliches, greatly enriched by the language of our marketing and advertising culture. The content and style, if we can make the distinction, of these ancient primitive word artists is very contemporary, or at least a mix of contemporary and the ancient.<br /><br />How much of culture did the word artists shape in a culture of television and movies? Will the word artists become more powerful with the internet? I say BAH! or BLAH!<br /><br />Terrence Mckenna, in a strong warning that goes at least back to all the ancient primitive prophets,<br /><br /><i>We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world. </i><br /><i><br /></i>Yes, this smacks of the great wisdom of the 1990s, a temporary rebirth of ideals of the 1960s, the turning wheel of romantic and classic energies, Dionysian and Apollonian.<br /><br />I had that bumper sticker: smash your TV! My coming of age, after leaving a Mormon mission, was in the 1990s. The great hope. I could see it, it was clear to every free thinking person, the television was mostly evil. It was brainwashing. But we had a new technology for our saviour, the internet. It was the great hope of the future. I am not sure how it is going. Do you? Somedays I am very optimistic. I am, after all, sitting here typing this for anyone to read, with more potential reach than any traditional print or oral culture could dream of, and I am positive there are other like minded people out there. But will anyone read it? Or, to put it another way, how can we quiet down enough, with all the anxious noise of our culture, especially through social media, more than the internet, to focus and get back in touch with the power of the primitive.<br /><br />bill bissett is the shamanistic primitive poet par excellence. Turn off your internet, at least for a spell, is it possible, and read bill bissett. But not silently, create the spell with your voice and take the journey. There is everywhere to go and also nowhere!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AolRbiviSgY/Wu9P9E0esMI/AAAAAAAAaME/0KjCjuo1wPQrPMjQdh-tNDm_Oqm0mctjgCLcBGAs/s1600/bill%2Bbissett%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="350" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AolRbiviSgY/Wu9P9E0esMI/AAAAAAAAaME/0KjCjuo1wPQrPMjQdh-tNDm_Oqm0mctjgCLcBGAs/s640/bill%2Bbissett%2Bpic.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-8588788552180581352018-05-03T21:54:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.496-07:00ON FATHERS<br />"My father, aged 20, and me, on a blue bouncy ball, with the handles. Dressed in hippy clothing. Happy. It doesn’t matter if I remember. I have the feeling. Love. I ran through it. The bull is coming. The bull is coming, they said. Watch the nets. Where are we. My biological left letters. My mum did not show me. She wanted me to grew up new, without the burdens. Years later, I got them. A small pile. A few letters. He wanted to know me."<br /><br />"My step father grew up in Warrington, he joined the British Army. A way out. Northern Ireland. He married my mother. In Bletchley, we went to the swimming pool. Hot chocolate, in the plastic cup, from the machine. I’ll give you a pound if you go down the slide he said. In London, in the homeless hostel, a sip from his beer. Play Your Cards Right on the telly. Twisting his moustache and flexing his biceps, playing Mormon hypnotism, on Mondays, in Milton Keynes. In America, wilderness survival. Black powder rifles and shotguns. Then, snowed in. In the sleeping bag, hypothermia. Awkward bonding. I do not know how to hammer. When I worked construction, I could not find the stud. I am not a man. I am not a woman. Yet here we are. Father and son. The many failures and expectations. Unconditional. The confusions. My step father, on top of me, a few punches, his heart on my heart, beating too fast. I didn’t want him to die."<br /><br /><br />From <i>The Autobiography of Don Whiskers</i>. My novel in progress. This except, "On Fathers," published at European Review of Poetry, Books, and Culture.<br /><br />You can read it over here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.versopolis.com/column/609/on-fathers">http://www.versopolis.com/column/609/on-fathers</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Phuf3Dox62E/WuvlLD6wHdI/AAAAAAAAaJQ/e2qo6VoBJYQnd2XPQwSWvDNl1dj0x0qJwCLcBGAs/s1600/542454_2824316705654_152142875_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="960" height="512" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Phuf3Dox62E/WuvlLD6wHdI/AAAAAAAAaJQ/e2qo6VoBJYQnd2XPQwSWvDNl1dj0x0qJwCLcBGAs/s640/542454_2824316705654_152142875_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-83451964549871829492018-04-13T01:22:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.659-07:00Rainbow PuppiesOver half million visits to Never Mind the Beasts. A mile stone maybe. Thank you so much for stopping by!!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qoz0zlScHHQ/WtBoibKjkcI/AAAAAAAAZ2U/xGJR0Csdn4Ms1wpxZQG35EafwJx29nMNQCLcBGAs/s1600/half%2Bmillion%2Bviews.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="1000" height="284" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qoz0zlScHHQ/WtBoibKjkcI/AAAAAAAAZ2U/xGJR0Csdn4Ms1wpxZQG35EafwJx29nMNQCLcBGAs/s640/half%2Bmillion%2Bviews.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-56800669071756232082018-04-04T09:30:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.822-07:00EXPANSIVE BATHTUBS<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you listen to Alan Watts, he tells you about expanding, rather than constricting. What does it mean? We all feel it, in one way or another, the tightening in the mind and body from various obligations, fears, and worries. The natural response is to cling, try to hold on. For example, as a teacher, I sometimes think in order to create a good lesson I need a lot of planning, and also anxiety, before entering the classroom. I have to prepare myself for the unexpected. But does the anxiety really help? And are my lessons more effective when I am anxious beforehand? It seems when I am in a more open and expansive state, some call this being in the flow, I am also more likely to complete various tasks more effectively. Of course, most importantly, the quality of my life is also better. </span></span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over time these ideas, being in the flow, or the moment, have become cliches. A little bit hokey sometimes.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Alan Watts book,</span><i style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Wisdom of Insecurity</i><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, he explains the limitations of definitions and descriptions. You cannot fix what is fundamentally transient and flowing. </span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"It is like when someone points his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, that person should see the moon. If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also. Why? It is because he mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon.”</span></span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If language is the finger, then what is the moon? The moon is a great mystery. The Spirit of the Bathtub is part of that great mystery. It is, essentially, a spiritual book of nomadic travel. In the expansive tradition. Sometimes minimalist like Basho. Sometimes narrative and parable like. Do not mistake the finger for the moon.</span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"No work of love will flourish out of guilt, fear or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now" </span></span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(from Alan Watt's <i>The Book: on the Taboo Against Knowing Yourself</i>).</span></span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Spirit of the Bathtub is now available from Apocalypse Party. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="https://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthebathtub.html" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/3LAnKJDMXP" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #1b95e0;" target="_blank" title="https://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthebathtub.html"><span class="tco-ellipsis"></span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">https://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthe</span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">bathtub.html</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"> </span>…</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> …</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xyMEppN5cZk/WsT9dk6d8QI/AAAAAAAAZik/FV7jfy9q61E8HR3Rj7jELK8Mpgt2obNlACLcBGAs/s1600/spirit-of-the-bathtub%2Bcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="336" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xyMEppN5cZk/WsT9dk6d8QI/AAAAAAAAZik/FV7jfy9q61E8HR3Rj7jELK8Mpgt2obNlACLcBGAs/s640/spirit-of-the-bathtub%2Bcover.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-70317156430629812892018-03-16T10:22:00.000-07:002018-05-14T00:03:45.985-07:00LEAKY LIFEBOATPerfectionism. I have felt it, and feel it, do you feel it? For me, it comes from various places. My Mormon upbringing and experience as an immigrant in the United States. Trying to get everything right, as the eldest of seven children and a first generation immigrant, and that sometimes overbearing optimism of American culture that can mask pain rather than dealing with it. The endless climbing of ladders. But to where?<br /><br />We are all broken.<br /><br />It is maybe helpful to admit our vulnerabilities.<br /><br />Here is a short reading from my book The Spirit of the Bathtub. It is called "Leaky Lifeboat."<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u7CvI1yhx1s/Wu1kqLzcHPI/AAAAAAAAaJs/hlbHp6lt7SgSIa0c_68xMCIEIXQfCqp1QCLcBGAs/s1600/23655_10150158742570331_2615284_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="720" height="179" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u7CvI1yhx1s/Wu1kqLzcHPI/AAAAAAAAaJs/hlbHp6lt7SgSIa0c_68xMCIEIXQfCqp1QCLcBGAs/s320/23655_10150158742570331_2615284_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/414506094&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br /><br />The Spirit of the Bathtub is available now from Apocalypse Party:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritoft%E2%80%A6bathtub.html">www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritoft…bathtub.html</a>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-41702638139851418622018-03-02T00:23:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.149-07:00Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YrXTY-L6aOk/WpkJ2HrK6qI/AAAAAAAAXsM/sAjH0R6I-LEivZ6XZvoXZsIkRWw0VVKswCLcBGAs/s1600/CircusCircusSign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1152" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YrXTY-L6aOk/WpkJ2HrK6qI/AAAAAAAAXsM/sAjH0R6I-LEivZ6XZvoXZsIkRWw0VVKswCLcBGAs/s320/CircusCircusSign.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><br />Las Vegas, 1985, maybe August. I am a newly arrived immigrant in the United States of America. First Vallejo in a trailer park and then Las Vegas. Also, from a few years previously, a new religion, Mormonism.<br /><br />I was almost 12. On the border of puberty with a funny accent from Northern Ireland. Do you want to see the strip, asked my mum. I didn't know the strip but it was obviously something exciting. My stepdad drove the car, a secondhand Nova donated to us by the Mormon church, to the strip. Needless to say it was buzzing. I was saturated with eye candy. Las Vegas, on the strip, was hyper sexual. It is one of the sin cities in history. Maybe the premiere sin cities. Circus Circus was my favourite. We ate a very large American buffet. It was cheap, and even cheaper for us since we were Mormon. They wouldn't make the money back from the slots. We just came for the steak. And also, sometimes, the eggs. American steak and eggs. And then a toothpick afterwards.<br /><br />In the new Mormon church, everyone was brother and sister. A nice thought. But no one got our new surname right. So my mother was sister sleeze. Instead of Slease. Slease is pronounced like a leasing a car and adding an s. We got the new name when my remarried a British solider in Northern Ireland (and part of the reason for leaving the country). No one knows where the surname comes from. I have felt alienated from it. But also, it's my name. Your name is the first fiction. Is everything a story? Maybe almost everything.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Here is a story. It is from my book Play Yr Kardz Right:<br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/407476284&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Play Yr Kardz Right is now available from Dostoyevsky Wannabe: <a href="https://dostoyevskywannabe.com/original/play_yr_kardz_right">https://dostoyevskywannabe.com/original/play_yr_kardz_right</a>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-16027049505818898562018-03-01T08:35:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.311-07:00I WEPT TO MY OLD UMBIBLICAL CORDSome of my stories are lyrical and surreal. They allow a lot of room for the imagination to create meaning. An active participation of reader and writer. Also, in the surrealist tradition, a journey between the conscious and less conscious parts of our minds. The various energies that direct our lives. Hopefully something to hold onto, like a good walking stick, but also allowing for spontaneity and directionless wanderings. The umbilical cord. You have to cut it. Welcome to the cosmic bathtub. This one has some mashup from Basho. A fantastic nomadic traveler. It is also in the tradition of the cosmic egg. It is called "The Big Egg."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/406982022&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br /><br />The Spirit of the Bathtub is now available from Apocalypse Party:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthebathtub.html">https://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthebathtub.html</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAWmT1YgIWc/Wpgr5SsEAEI/AAAAAAAAXqU/JjDblQXcYN8tl3iDOcWoTbxRi9wgokEUwCLcBGAs/s1600/pennies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="355" height="239" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAWmT1YgIWc/Wpgr5SsEAEI/AAAAAAAAXqU/JjDblQXcYN8tl3iDOcWoTbxRi9wgokEUwCLcBGAs/s320/pennies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-4885163051113531092018-02-10T08:57:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.476-07:00HOLE IN THE MIDDLEIn 2012 I was living in Katowice, Poland. One of my favorite days was national donut day. It is a big deal in Poland and in Poland the donuts are very good. They are maybe my favourite donuts in the whole world. And so I wrote this lyrical poem story. Some of it is a lie. There really isn't a hole in a Polish donut. You have to make your own hole. It is, however, a little round. But not as round as the prefab donuts in other countries. It is more imperfect, less round. There is no real round in nature. The Polish donut is closer to real nature. It is very filling.<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span>Happy national Polish donut day!!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6k8RmVtnsbY/Wu2U-cL3s9I/AAAAAAAAaK4/onjLumZN_nQev7PP59enMAbWowcTfQYvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Paczki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6k8RmVtnsbY/Wu2U-cL3s9I/AAAAAAAAaK4/onjLumZN_nQev7PP59enMAbWowcTfQYvQCLcBGAs/s640/Paczki.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/255181941" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br /><a href="https://vimeo.com/255181941">HOLE IN THE MIDDLE</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user7504768">JJMars</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-40841491853488744632018-02-05T12:36:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.642-07:00THE SPIRIT OF THE BATHTUB My nomadic travels in South Korea, Utah, Turkey, Italy, Poland, and London. From 2009-2015. A kind of spiritual book, but not the hokey kind. There is lots of imagination. Bring your own walking stick.<br /><br />Coming soon . . .....................................................<br /><br />More info over here:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.apocalypse-party.com/thespiritofthebathtub.html" target="_blank">THE SPIRIT OF THE BATHTUB</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldW4vh9LvEs/Wni8PYGpY5I/AAAAAAAAXPM/ENjlRt6s6zkexTT_50BMIDGhwf3EMlxqACLcBGAs/s1600/spirit-of-the-bathtub_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="336" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldW4vh9LvEs/Wni8PYGpY5I/AAAAAAAAXPM/ENjlRt6s6zkexTT_50BMIDGhwf3EMlxqACLcBGAs/s320/spirit-of-the-bathtub_1.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.36px; text-align: justify;">*COVER ART BY BEN STAINTON</span><br /><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-88472534000121820342018-01-25T23:46:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.807-07:00DEAR BELOVED HUMANS"For eight years now I have been translating the poetry of Grzegorz Wróblewski, a Polish writer and visual artist based in Copenhagen. So far we have published two volumes: Kopenhaga (Zephyr Press, 2013) and Zero Visibility (Phoneme Media, 2017). We are now working on our third project, Dear Beloved Humans: New and Selected Poems."<br /><br />-- PIOTR GWIAZDA<br /><br />The writing and art of Grzegorz Wroblewski has connections to the anti-poetry of Nicanor Parra, the dark comedy of Samuel Beckett, the raw punkness and absurdity of Andrzej Bursa, and the surrealist prose poems of Charles Simic. Legendary critic Marjorie Perloff says of Grzegorz "[he is] the true poetic chronicler of our twenty-first century diaspora in all its absurdities and anxieties."<br /><br />READ THE ARTICLE OVER AT JACKET 2:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://jacket2.org/commentary/dear-beloved-humans">https://jacket2.org/commentary/dear-beloved-humans</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7seYZeMQX84/Wmrcu1uYCbI/AAAAAAAAW-Y/sTKK6MqFwBkcvq8NeDV-jv9p4HWT4wYFQCLcBGAs/s1600/grzegorz%2Bwroblewski.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="624" height="186" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7seYZeMQX84/Wmrcu1uYCbI/AAAAAAAAW-Y/sTKK6MqFwBkcvq8NeDV-jv9p4HWT4wYFQCLcBGAs/s320/grzegorz%2Bwroblewski.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: , , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 11.2px; font-style: italic;">A still from "Grzegorz Wróblewski do ludzkości." (c) Krzysztof Jaworski.</span>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-33676184692288215752018-01-25T23:16:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:46.970-07:00REALITY BEACH<div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We visit Katowice, Poland twice a year. For the last seven years. My partner Ewa is from Katowice. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">During Christmas 2016, after 4 months of living in Madrid, our new home base after many years in London, Ewa and I visited Poland for Christmas. But t</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">his time we decided to go a little earlier and stay in Krakow. One of our favourite spots was Alchemia club in </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kazimierz/Krakow.</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is very magical. Lots of fog/smog outside. And inside, of course, the historical green fairy. Highly recommended.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">These poems/stories are from my book <i>The Green Monk</i>, forthcoming from Boiler House Press on November 5th 2018. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Take the journey over at Reality Beach:</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://realitybeach.org/issue-5/slease/&source=gmail&ust=1517037107446000&usg=AFQjCNFwE_bTN3nfYRcBoP4ARZaCnAQICg" href="http://realitybeach.org/issue-5/slease/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://realitybeach.org/issue-<wbr></wbr>5/slease/</a></span></h3><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fm1m792e42Y/WmrVpfR-TqI/AAAAAAAAW-I/BPuAbtBdPmcHvL4aOCJRC3K_sO0HbnzmACLcBGAs/s1600/alchemia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fm1m792e42Y/WmrVpfR-TqI/AAAAAAAAW-I/BPuAbtBdPmcHvL4aOCJRC3K_sO0HbnzmACLcBGAs/s320/alchemia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></div>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-31863313349719578912018-01-19T11:54:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.135-07:00MARRIED TO THE MOB VEGAS MIXTAPE<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">FRIDAY NIGHT <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/dostoyevskywannabe/astronaut-wives-club-marcus-slease-married-to-the-mob-vegas-mix/" target="_blank">MARRIED TO MOB VEGAS MIXTAPE</a> . . FOR MY BOOK . . PLAY YR KARDZ RIGHT . . AMERICAN IMMIGRANT LITERATURE . . FROM DOSTOYEVSKY WANNABE . . </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Die Antwoord, </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why?, </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Peaking Lights, </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Grandaddy, PLAY YR KARDZ RIGHT </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Clip </span><br /><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and more. . . </span><br /><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tZ10i9QZkKY/WmJM5daoh_I/AAAAAAAAW5A/JMD_eg-WuiYLptMZeniHP30TKTho-HL0gCLcBGAs/s1600/die%2Bantwoort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tZ10i9QZkKY/WmJM5daoh_I/AAAAAAAAW5A/JMD_eg-WuiYLptMZeniHP30TKTho-HL0gCLcBGAs/s640/die%2Bantwoort.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #586573; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-52060945327063886272018-01-19T07:32:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.300-07:00Nomad Life<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Nice review of Play Yr Kardz Right and also the nomadic life project. Also, a nice pic of Desperate Literature bookshop. Madrid's answer to Shakespeare and Company in Paris and where Play Yr Kardz Right was launched. Thank you so much </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=15210886&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/piotr.gwiazda.315?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Piotr Gwiazda</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">. Also thanks </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=1492549360963327&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/desperateliteraturemadrid/?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Desperate Literature</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=197815616&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/terry.a.craven?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Terry Andrew Craven</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/group.php?id=447201592342119&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/447201592342119/?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Dostoyevsky Wannabe Switchboard</a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"></span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100002121590558&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.brammer2?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Richard Brammer</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100002135171003&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/victoria.brown.925059?fref=mentions" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Victoria Brown</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Read the review over here:</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><a href="https://jacket2.org/commentary/nomad-life"><span style="font-size: large;">https://jacket2.org/commentary/nomad-life</span></a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlirdTKsdzM/WmGvalOP2zI/AAAAAAAAW4w/pQ9uJUPLKz8bZ-9SOCdGCJMwLtYXzyXVwCLcBGAs/s1600/desperate%2Bliterature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="624" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlirdTKsdzM/WmGvalOP2zI/AAAAAAAAW4w/pQ9uJUPLKz8bZ-9SOCdGCJMwLtYXzyXVwCLcBGAs/s640/desperate%2Bliterature.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-12873078371943721752018-01-18T10:21:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.465-07:00THE POWER OF HERMITS<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Do you want the magic back in your life? Me too. Also people. It is so noisy out there. Meaning in here. How about some peace. We are all competing for endless roads to nowhere. But sometimes somewhere. I am at least 60% natural hermit, ditto Ewa. It depends on the day. Of course we are social creatures but the world is made for extroverts. How about those of us with more introverted energies. Some folks have already written books about it. The power of introverts. It is also nice to get your hands in the dirt every once and a while and step away from the internet. This is a story, very short, of a hermit. Would you employ a hermit? I hope so. We need some more hermits in the world.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nLowSQRX0bo/WmDlREPH1wI/AAAAAAAAW4E/Ib6pXj48-D08cfaip4xb2azaL6B8Co6wQCLcBGAs/s1600/hermit%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="736" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nLowSQRX0bo/WmDlREPH1wI/AAAAAAAAW4E/Ib6pXj48-D08cfaip4xb2azaL6B8Co6wQCLcBGAs/s320/hermit%2Bpic.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/385564796&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span></span>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-14765056948270361122018-01-11T02:27:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.629-07:00THE NEW SINCERITY<h2></h2><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0-QCRIzPhNc/Wlc7otmQ0FI/AAAAAAAAV8Y/ZvMuiSY7lHEdwNFbcAXBhaOtJ9YSJ6iTACLcBGAs/s1600/4222143991_ef9dc9aebe_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="575" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0-QCRIzPhNc/Wlc7otmQ0FI/AAAAAAAAV8Y/ZvMuiSY7lHEdwNFbcAXBhaOtJ9YSJ6iTACLcBGAs/s320/4222143991_ef9dc9aebe_o.jpg" width="179" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UU-u1T5cTPo/Wlc7qrPBUZI/AAAAAAAAV8c/VJXWjZuP2z4LDSx4G4GilcVDpYJjBlfzACLcBGAs/s1600/4222907466_31d0a7e5a0_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="575" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UU-u1T5cTPo/Wlc7qrPBUZI/AAAAAAAAV8c/VJXWjZuP2z4LDSx4G4GilcVDpYJjBlfzACLcBGAs/s320/4222907466_31d0a7e5a0_o.jpg" width="179" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Marcus Slease in 1995)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.54px;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><h2><span style="background-color: white; color: #e06666; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: large; letter-spacing: 0.54px;"><b>Irony and sincerity combined like Voltron, to form a new movement of astonishing power."</b></span><span style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span></h2></div><div><h2><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #e06666; letter-spacing: 0.54px;">-- Jesse Thorn</span></span></span></h2></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #e06666; letter-spacing: 0.54px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.54px;">How do you feel about irony? And sincerity? Are they really opposites? Like all good art, they make for good cross fertilisation. In 1995, after coming home early from a Mormon mission, to a small town in Utah that was never really my home, I got a perm. I thought I was still alternative but Nirvana had crossed over. The world was never the same, per always, again. Irony creates distance and it is needed to keep us honest with our sincerity. And to be honest, the closer you look, life is absurd. Yes, that is what I need for my well being. Art that cuts through the falseness but with compassionate mindfulness. In a dharma talk by Gil Fronsdal, he said that Buddhism, at its heart, is existentialism without the angst. I can dig that. </span></span></span></div><style type="text/css">p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545} </style>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-14876187813306508322018-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.792-07:00PAST SIMPLE 13<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.12px;">The new international issue of Past Simple out now. Manchester, New York City, Lisbon, London, Seattle, Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Liège</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">, Madrid, Cambridge (MA), Worcester (MA), Pittsburgh</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">, Prague, </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> Eindhoven, North Queensland (Australia), </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: large; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">and more . . .</span><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Edited by Marcus Slease and Grzegorz Wroblewski. </span></span><br /><div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The issue is full of wild, electric, strange & wonderful writing. </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check it out over here: </span></span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;" /><a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpastsimple.org%2Fps13.SampsonStarkweather.html&h=ATPURtwFdQrUx7UCMAX40EoDUWBBl_YhvklFP7XFxDavlMEy6kF_H6HLbFMhi1hxhl_uMr9cUSp0V2XgkB3ERbMAFgy6euJBIvczzukhWUgxpfG1O8CXvNfMwVcUoY9vpU3k-d96O3t2gncsMHV5uQ5oZho65MunffGHFhe9Yw5HnLNLGB4yL0AVnn0KusXJm_psxblhCStXQsBDV5tg4_6N4Ymf1wfCLw7-COg0ZZoG4KU-3bCCj9FJvjO1uIULbQ68sWkJIkNZfFsYjQF8JYlY8EXKt6nN6uoc60f8" href="http://pastsimple.org/ps13.SampsonStarkweather.html" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">http://pastsimple.org/</a></span></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KdznwjPlm3M/WlO8Ya5XqTI/AAAAAAAAV7A/9sgrWD3GSKIlHusyoxKOpBptIm09QaBHwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-01-08%2Bat%2B19.43.09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="1364" height="402" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KdznwjPlm3M/WlO8Ya5XqTI/AAAAAAAAV7A/9sgrWD3GSKIlHusyoxKOpBptIm09QaBHwCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-01-08%2Bat%2B19.43.09.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />(web design and development by Ewa Rasala)</div>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-78903639435382012982017-12-18T12:03:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:47.957-07:00ROLAND RAT, BRIGHT EYES BURNING LIKE FIRE, AND THE PATRON SAINT OF FISH<br />Did you watch Watership Down, the cartoon, as a wee lad or lass? Was it scary? I think it is still scary. The theme song, with its chorus of bright eyes burning like fire, still haunts me.<br /><br />How about Roland Rat?<br /><br />Hop aboard the magic boat to childhood. Prose poems, from my book <i>The Green Monk</i>, forthcoming from Boiler House Press on 5th November 2018:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/poems-for-the-elephants">https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/poems-for-the-elephants</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KmJkhOxM6Lo/Wjgevj44DWI/AAAAAAAAVd0/ySZ9La8MesMIKndtPDvJloLNbpzOHqSmQCLcBGAs/s1600/WATERSHIP%2BDOWN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="260" height="477" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KmJkhOxM6Lo/Wjgevj44DWI/AAAAAAAAVd0/ySZ9La8MesMIKndtPDvJloLNbpzOHqSmQCLcBGAs/s640/WATERSHIP%2BDOWN.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Prose poems originally published by <a href="https://theelephants.net/records/marcus-slease" target="_blank">The Elephants</a>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-30862510003344283592017-12-18T11:58:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:48.120-07:00THE ELEPHANTSThe moon is sometimes bloated. There is so much. Just stop, slow down, take a look at your brain. It is very bloated. Put your thoughts in a balloon, maybe 99 red balloons, and pop them. Over and over.<br /><br />Here are some balloons. From my book <i>The Green Monk</i>, forthcoming from Boiler House Press on 5th November 2018.<br /><br />Available at <a href="https://www.theelephants.net/records/marcus-slease" target="_blank">The Elephants.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oHRj8WfTI9s/WjgPWEnRFlI/AAAAAAAAVdg/zv8KsAHlLyUhwoNhc1Z1bbjgvwdBqxb3gCLcBGAs/s1600/Anglerfish-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="526" height="436" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oHRj8WfTI9s/WjgPWEnRFlI/AAAAAAAAVdg/zv8KsAHlLyUhwoNhc1Z1bbjgvwdBqxb3gCLcBGAs/s640/Anglerfish-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-2310965231864873652017-12-09T03:32:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:48.286-07:00THE BOMB, THE DEMONS, AMERICAN HAMBURGERSThe opening, for now, of <i>The Autobiography of Don Whiskers</i>.<br /><br />My novel in progress (partly a memoir).<br /><br />It begins in Northern Ireland and then moves to Milton Keynes, England.<br /><br />And then a trailer park in Vallejo, California.<br /><br />Don Whiskers is the main character.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/367103669&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qT7B79aVX-o/WivJaW5zMXI/AAAAAAAAVNU/V-L1AELpsUQWJI0hEwFlURBsEeUmONh7gCLcBGAs/s1600/25252_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qT7B79aVX-o/WivJaW5zMXI/AAAAAAAAVNU/V-L1AELpsUQWJI0hEwFlURBsEeUmONh7gCLcBGAs/s640/25252_0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-83292530282549574562017-12-06T12:42:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:48.450-07:00MR WHISKERSThe only award I ever won, and didn't even enter, was for a poem called "Mr Whiskers and the Picnic Basket." It was published in one of those prestigious university literary journals. <i>Hayden's Ferry Review</i>, I think. That was in 2002. It is 2017. So yeah, 15 years later. That one poem, "Mr Whiskers and the Picnic Basket," has rather suddenly infiltrated a previous manuscript, and that manuscript has already been infiltrated many times already. So, in other words, there is a lot of mutation happening. Various forms of alchemy.<br /><br />The infiltration reached full breach last night.<br /><br />I am now in the middle of the 100th revision of my novel. And Mr. Whiskers, from so long ago, is the main character.<br /><br />A sample of this minimalist retelling of everyday life and epic journeys has just been released on Soundcloud. But it will probably mutate for another year, at least, for a nice even 8 years of mutations:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/mr-whiskers">https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/mr-whiskers</a>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-61723192495622684182017-11-28T23:02:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:48.616-07:00FROM POETRY MAGAZINE Reading List: November 2017<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;">Some nice reading lists for November over at Poetry magazine website. I've added mine. Some Tim Atkins, Jeff Hilson, Colin Herd, bill bissett, Victoria Brown, Isabel Waidner, Judson Hamilton, Richard Brammer, Joanne Kyger, Edouard Leve, Diane di Prima, and Ben Lerner. Check out the reading lists over here: </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_201073296"><br /></a></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , , sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2017/11/reading-list-november-2017">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2017/11/reading-list-november-2017</a></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xvkki6StVt0/Wh5a9uZUWuI/AAAAAAAAVE0/OvckO6aAGUcmHFHJSPPhTArGV6G5BU77ACLcBGAs/s1600/bissett-2005-photo-by-Alan-Twigg-WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="750" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xvkki6StVt0/Wh5a9uZUWuI/AAAAAAAAVE0/OvckO6aAGUcmHFHJSPPhTArGV6G5BU77ACLcBGAs/s640/bissett-2005-photo-by-Alan-Twigg-WEB.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/timatkins?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">timatkins</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/jeffhilson?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">jeffhilson</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/colinherd?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">colinherd</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/billbissett?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">billbissett</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"></span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/victoriabrown?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">victoriabrown</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/isabelwaidner?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">isabelwaidner</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/judsonhamilton?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">judsonhamilton</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/richardbrammer?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">richardbrammer</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"></span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/joannekyger?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">joannekyger</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/edouardleve?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">edouardleve</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/dianediprima?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">dianediprima</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/benlerner?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">benlerner</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"> </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/boilerhousepress?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">boilerhousepress</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px;"></span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/dostoyevskywannabe?source=feed_text&story_id=10159603782195331" style="background-color: white; color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">dostoyevskywannabe</span></span></a>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2509957709963273607.post-80328814282066077662017-11-16T02:54:00.000-08:002018-05-14T00:03:48.782-07:00THE FLIGHT OF PIGEONS FROM THE PALACE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mezC2TD410g/Wg1t82HU57I/AAAAAAAAU8o/EpCzFKLHNVoJrwP4S1uuRK8ehKMTyhpgQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20171116_095629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1108" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mezC2TD410g/Wg1t82HU57I/AAAAAAAAU8o/EpCzFKLHNVoJrwP4S1uuRK8ehKMTyhpgQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20171116_095629.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tbkOTW6KFG0/Wg1t8wLLx6I/AAAAAAAAU8s/oviehZMaTVYnnqI7SmUSVACAAdQXZnqcwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20171116_100002979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tbkOTW6KFG0/Wg1t8wLLx6I/AAAAAAAAU8s/oviehZMaTVYnnqI7SmUSVACAAdQXZnqcwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20171116_100002979.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pnxMagbd704/Wg1uEuvtylI/AAAAAAAAU8w/1nSxGOMG5qAHmTiF7LgHDcDriawwu6sEwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20171116_100531365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pnxMagbd704/Wg1uEuvtylI/AAAAAAAAU8w/1nSxGOMG5qAHmTiF7LgHDcDriawwu6sEwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20171116_100531365.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>marcus silcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00732773401182689304noreply@blogger.com0