canadian trio in copenhagen

facebook?

for 4 days running now i haven't been allowed to see my notifications or messages on facebook. nor to post. though, generously i have been allowed to log in & to see that i have messages & notifications. facebook, supposedly, is a platform for communication. right? yet they have, for reasons unknown to me decided to deny me the right to access & reply to communication. i have not received any reply from any fb-employed human to questions about why this is being done & how they propose to solve the issue. i'm serioulsy considering deleting my account & going back to using this blog & email for online communication

all the old punks

so charlie harper of the uk subs turns 75 today

anatomy of a town

 

 

sometimes things happen quickly. late sunday night/early monday morning i submitted a manuscript. then i went downstairs & outside for a smoke. when i came back up it was accepted. before i went to bed i had signed a book contract (my first ever) & just had a bit of proofing left. last night it was published by alien buddha press. welcome my first photo book, anatomy of a town, into the world. it contains a selection of a notion i've had for 7 years, though it found it's intended form a year or so later. photos of towns or cities with no (or a minimum of) humans. simply the traces of us. the photos were taken in malmö, undeloh, amsterdam, bradford, berlin, paris & (mostly south east) london from 2012 up to about a week ago & they were selected because they work well together as a unit. & yes, i have some plans for other parts of the constantly growing material. but that's for later. now i'm happy to have this book out in the world. & as usual i would recommend you get it from the publisher

is it a song?

on thursday night when i had a long night with bella (now 8) & liam (now 6), the kids i've been looking after now for well over 3 years, we had a bit of chaotic disco, so i introduced them to this song & it became an instant hit, so both yesterday & today when we came home from school, playground & outdoors gym they immediately had ”alexa” play it

 

 

another canadian trio

4 long

earlier today the copies of 4 long, my new book from knivesforks&spoons press arrived in the mail. it's always a delight to hold a copy of a book you wrote for the first time. huge thanks to alec newman for all he does for poetry

why not?

that's my most common answer to the question "why?" this is an interview with norman fischer, one of the finest zen teachers in the west. you don't need to have any interest in that tradition to appreciate most of what he talks about here. imagination & how you can use it is relevant to most of us

haiku

thanks  to richard for this

made me want to take up haiku again

oops, i did it again

these poems have been loitering in my laptop for some time now. fans of richard thompson may recognise the titles. the first 2 of them were published in on barcelona, lovingly edited by halvard johnson (by who i published an e-book, trapeze, in 2015), in 2012 & never collected, the last one was finished earlier this afternoon

NOBODY'S WEDDING

invisible bride & groom

exiting possibly non
existent town hall

not quite in time for

their honeymoon due
to bees on the runway

the survivors all say

it was a blast

TWO LEFT FEET

were crossing the street

one got run over &
the other one was speechless

tangled up in shoes out

on the dance floor
to the delight of

cops stumbling around on

their beat not having
a clue what's up or down

SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS

so we may see the stars
should they decide to come around

& when they do, put your rifle down

& we'll start a camp fire

& cook somebody

there's lots to say about richard thompson. i won't do that biographical essay, at least not now. for now i shall leave you with his amazing version of oops, i did it again. enjoy

 

 

shed politics

& then there's this old photo

free crime

yes, there is a plan. this cheeky blog isn't just personal. sometime in a not too distant future there will be a chapbook press called cheeky editions (call & guidelines will be posted when the time comes). for now, here's a pdf broadside of my only surviving flash fiction. if any of you peeps want to become a broadside, drop me a single page word document at larspalm69ATgmailDOTcom

 

under the sun

migrating links

some of my favourite poets, (still acive) bloggers & people. i'll let them speak for themselves

richard lopez
rob mclennan
eileen tabios
mark young

saturday night music

i've been a fan of exodus since 1985. then a few years ago i found this video. a live version of a lesson in violence. so here it is

about deptford

deptford wikipedia

around here

going cheeky

time to return to blogging. what will follow remains to be seen. but for now i have a new book to welcome into the world. 4 long published yesterday by knives forks and spoons press. between the covers you meet a zombi, a standard face, some letters & a 1066 word poem. it's best to get it straight from the press, to keep him doing the brilliant job he's doing

mischievoice is now retired as it was written by another person in another life & has lost its relevance as an online presence. though i still like the pen on the template