A note on: latest poetry on 3am magazine

3am logo.png

It's been a good time to be getting submissions for 3am's poetry section. Seems what I've been trying to do over the years has stuck a little, and so much of the work I'm getting is brilliant. So more than usual has been published, and this is in no small part down to the Poem Brut and Duos series, being the only poetry I'm accepting at the mo. As ever there's a big backlog, so much more to come soon. Since September 2017...

Published: a new essay on The Learned Pig

ontimeandmess.png

As part of my new series of art book publications for Poem Brut I've written a series of essays. Each one acts as a kind of contextualised full stop to the books and their otherwise un-explained content, but they aren't explanations, just ruminations. The brilliant online journal The Learned Pig have kindly published the essay On Time and Mess, which closed out I fear my best work behind me, with selections of the work from that book

https://www.thelearnedpig.org/on-time-and-mess/5477

Once we understand excess, then we can get really simple.

– Robert Rauschenberg

Exploring poetry’s absent indispensable character

"Because poetry is not a thing that lives, to put it mildly, upon the regulation and control of grammar and correct spelling, in the final preparations for the publication of my book, ‘I fear my best work behind me,’ an exploration of the rudimentary character of poetry – that is letters and words – there was only one correction to make for my editor. Only one deliberate error, with all the obsequiousness that this phrase entails, for him to find and for me to defend. The title. I fear my best work is behind me. Remove the is. Then perhaps, to those dozen or so reading the title, and those few within the dozen who are concentrated by interest, the absence of the is will take on its proper significance. The primary significance I would posit that poetry has, outside of letters and words, is purposeful semantic omission.

I do not imagine my best work is behind me, literally, but in those whom I’ve discovered – and that is the right word to use (for they have to be unearthed, do poets, in England) – who have given me permission to make such works as those that often litter my pages, they are behind me, and are the best work, for they were and are not making what can be mine. What they have made was original, or based on poets they have buried with themselves, as I shall not do........"

 

A note on: editing the Sampson Low Poetry Pamphlet series in 2018

The Sampson Low Poetry Pamphlet Series is designed to evidence the remarkable contemporary and innovative poetry being written by current and recent Kingston University Creative Writing students. This series of beautifully designed pamphlets each features a suite of poems, most often on one theme or in one style, by a solo author. Visit https://sampsonlow.co/wck-pamphlets/ to purchase from the series.

New releases in the series, debut works by Olga Kolesnikova, Yvonne Litschel and Silje are now available to purchase. Click on the title and author to read more about each publication so far and buy a copy!: Click on the title and author to read more about each publication so far and buy a copy!:

“Kingston University brings together students from all over the world, from as wide a range of backgrounds and cultures as can be found in the UK. It creates a community that cross pollinates influences and ideas, and this is inevitably reflected in the work the students create. The university does not get enough credit for this – it is, I have seen, a vibrant, harmonious environment where originality and difference can be transformed into exciting and innovative expression. The students are hungry for that which is innovative, that which allows them to express the true size and complexity of their experience and their community at the university. This series of poetry pamphlets reflects that. The work is utterly contemporary, it is exciting and energetic. It is, I hope, the best kind of representation of what Kingston University stands for – intelligent, unique and various in its character.”  
Series editor, SJ Fowler

A note on: Poem Brut III at Rich Mix and smashing closed my exhibition

Another remarkable night for the Poem Brut events. There is a community forming around the notion of literary performance through these events which is warm and welcoming but is producing some challenging, though often very funny, poetry. It feels, though early in the Poem Brut project which took years to begin, that the concept of the events, like with The Enemies Project, has grand potential.

The event also saw the closing of my exhibition Hard to Read. It was a privilege to have space at the Rich Mix for a whole month, but the exhibition was a collecting of previous things rather than a showing of that which is new, so I felt I needed to close it down with something memorable. 

A note on : Poem Brut 2018

This Saturday sees the first Poem Brut event of the year at Rich Mix. Three further events are confirmed for the year ahead and one exhibition, with an open call. Details below.www.poembrut.com

-----

Poem Brut at Rich Mix II: January Saturday 13th - 7pm onwards
Rich Mix Gallery : Free Entry (free wine too) www.poembrut.com/gallery 
35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA (downstairs from the Indigo Cafe) 
Featuring brand new literary performances from Paul Hawkins, Imogen Reid, Christian Patracchini, Patrick Cosgrove, Mischa Foster Poole and more. A last chance to see my Hard to Read exhibition before it closes and a first chance to soil my book Aletta Ocean's Alphabet Empire, published by Hesterglock Press.

-----

Poem Brut at Rich Mix III : March Sat 17th 2018
with Chrissy Williams, Lavinia Singer, Matvei Yankelevich, Julia Rose Lewis, Julia Schuster, Olga Moskvina, Oliver Mayeux, Mischa Foster Poole, Ruhi Parmar Amin, Andre Bagoo and more. 

Poem Brut at Writers' Centre Kingston : March Thursday 22nd 2018
with Revital Cohen, Tuur Van Balen, Harry Man, Tawny Andersen, Jeramu Dodds, Sarah Dawson, Lucy Furlong & more.

Poem Brut at National Poetry Library : Wednesday June 6th 2018
with Maja Jantar, SJ Fowler, Tom Jenks, Saradha Soobrayen (TBC)

-----

Poem Brut, supported by Arts Council England.

A note on - Hard to Read : an exhibition at Rich Mix

HARD TO READ
Paint Poems, Poet Portraits, Pansemia : an exhibition by SJ Fowler
December 9th 2017 to january 15th 2018 at Rich Mix Gallery
www.poembrut.com/hard-to-read
35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA (downstairs from the Indigo Cafe) 

Once we understand excess, then we can get really simple.
                                                                           Robert Rauschenberg

From the gallery "Collecting together the art poetry of SJ Fowler, this solo exhibition aims to pose several questions of the poem as a concrete, visual thing in the world. What is in the shape of a letter and what images do words recall? What is the meaning of colour in poetry and text upon the page, and white space? How does the situation of a poem change its meaning? Why is composition not a concept that applies to a medium that is innately visual? In literature, why has content overwhelmed context? Why has product dominated process? HARD TO READ poses these questions and answers them poorly, playfully, with over 40 original works drawn from multiple publications and previous exhibitions - works that interrogate handwriting, abstraction, illustration, asemic and pansemic writing, scribbling, crossings out, forgotten notes, strange scrawls - the odd interaction between paper and pen, and pencil, and coloured words that randomly collide with image recalling words."

Special view performance event : January Saturday 13th - Rich Mix Gallery : Free Entry - 7.30pm www.poembrut.com/gallery featuring Paul Hawkins, Imogen Reid, Christian Patracchini, Patrick Cosgrove, Mischa Foster Poole, SJ Fowler and more.

Part of Poem Brut, supported by Arts Council England.

P1140477.jpg
P1140522.jpg
P1140498.jpg

Pictures by Alexander Kell http://www.alexanderkell.com/

A note on: The European Review of Poetry, Books and Culture

I'm pleased to have been named an executive editor of the European Review of Poetry, Books and Culture. Over the next 12 months I'll have the chance to commission and publish over 80 original essays, articles and reflections from writers across the world. 

Initial commissions include new pieces by Rasha Abbas, Harry Man, Joanna Walsh, David Spittle, Christodoulos Makris, Andrew Gallix, Rocio Ceron, Catherine Humble and many more. New articles are soon to be published daily at www.versopolis.com

The European Review of Poetry, Books and Culture is an online literary journal, funded by the European Union, aiming to create an anglophone publication platform with a focus on continental Europe and world beyond. 

versop.png

Published : I fear my best work behind me

'm happy to announce the release of my debut art book, in a limited edition, from Stranger Press. Available to purchase here I fear my best work behind me

The book will be launched on December 15th at The Poetry Society's Poetry Cafe at 7.30pm, free entry. Details here www.poembrut.com/ifear

Produced to a remarkable standard by Stranger press, I fear ... is a book exploring poetry as a fractured, overwhelmed, handwritten victim of colour, brutalist child-like portraiture, abstract illustration and negative space. 

I'm just messin' about, Karel Appel once said. Nothing was further from the truth. 
I'm just messin' about, says SJ Fowler. Nothing is further from the truth. Bas Kwakman, Director - Poetry International Rotterdam

i fear my best work behind me presents raw simulation of tentative and tender frailty. The respondent stares at fragments of attachment comprehension lost comprehension, becomes involved in a relationship of mark facture and scripted text applied sequentially or contemporary with each other, scripted in tandem or over the smudge. It is as if the intent has been hidden and that there rests an implicit coded discrepancy in each smudge demanding a decode, a search in the rubble, a decipherment that matches the pages of fleeting uncertainty and assured presentation without transcription. The work shakes with an engagement with these conditions.     Allen Fisher poet & artist

The volume features works published by Oxford Poetry, Test Centre magazine, Gorse Magazine, Fractalia and others, and an example can be found online at Partisan Hotelhttp://partisanhotel.co.uk/S-J-Fowler The book is closed by an essay, soon to be published onThe Learned Pig.

The works call back to the post-war and latter 20th century explorations of Henri Michaux, Jacques Racquet and the CoBrA group especially – Christian Dotremont, Pierre Alechinsky, Asger Jorn, Lucebert, Gerrit Kouwenaars, Karel Appel. This book is a reconnection to their principles and practises, knowing it to be familiar ground, but one rarely tread and increasingly necessary in a still predominantly colourless medium.

Part of Poem Brut, supported by Arts Council England.

A note on : Munich with the British Council

IMG_20171122_163833.jpg

A few days in Munich thanks to the hospitality of Elke Ritt and the British Council in Germany, this was a chance to develop a project that I hope will become a significant moment in contemporary British innovative poetry in Europe. Proposed by myself and Chris McCabe, it centres around an exhibition of English Concrete poetry in Munich, that will trace the visual poetry revolution of the 50s through to those making the work on the island now, whom are not greatly well known beyond the UK. It will connect to German vispo too, but vitally, it will show the range of poetic practise that has emanated from visual innovation. From performance, to conceptual work, from kinetic poetry to installation. These few days were spent discussing the idea, touring the beautiful city and meeting some brilliant folk. Discovering the Lyrik Kabinett was a revelation, a library gallery event space, with a really progressive understanding of poetry and art together, and visiting the grand Literaturhaus once again reminded me of what we’re missing, not having these institutions, in the UK. Once again, I’m lucky to be working with the British Council and after this beginning, hopefully this ambitious idea comes to fruition next year. 

Published: Poems into Slovenian by Muanis Sinanovic

epitA.png

Rimska žena
grozna ljubezen ki konča pokol
požgi najino kot dvojčka podžunglane vojne
vključi pojem prijaznega konca
ki duši pesem o visokem koncu
stolp pobega v ure
priskrbi ga za vse kar pomeni preden je bil
da ne bova znova sama dokler eden od naju ne umre

A real privilege to have the brilliant Slovenian poet Muanis Sinanovic, whose work shares many of my concerns, translate some of my poems from 2013 into Slovenian. He's done a beautiful job and for them to appear in the respected Lud Literatura magazine is grand too http://www.ludliteratura.si/branje/poezija/epitalamiji/

A note on : Animal Bones

Animal Bones : The first of a new set of five cinema-poetic collaborations with the artist-filmmaker Joshua Alexander. / The animal films explore the particular, baffled and morbid character of English attitudes to mortality, along with the specific influence of place and conformity on the quintessentially English deferral of emotion and melodrama. The films aim to capture the ambiguous menace of an often accidentally humorous resolve, manner, apology and understatement so prevalent in the English character. / The first of these five filmpoems, Animal Bones, was shot on location at Hythe Ossuary, one of only two open-to-the-public human bone crypts in the UK. / Supported by the Eurimages TEM grant and Arts Council England via The Enemies Project.

A note on: BBC Radio 3 sunday feature 'Resurrecting Mayakovsky'

I had a grand time chatting to Ian Sansom and Conor Garrett for the making of their brilliant radio documentary 'Resurrecting Mayakovsky', which was the sunday feature on BBC Radio 3 on November 19th. I think I'm in it a matter of seconds, but we chatted extensively when we met, which was a really fruitful experience, and I was delighted to be invited to be a part of it. They excerpted my play too, which gives it a small second life in a way that feels positive. 

It remains listenable as a podcast here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09fmkh5

A note on: reflecting on Handke for Illuminations III

Held at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London I had the chance to put on an event reflecting on the work of my favourite novelist, Peter Handke. It brought together performers from Amsterdam, Vienna and across London, and the varying works on the night showed the range of achievement of Handke. My own performance was made up on the night really, a mix of the impersonal and personal, gentle and threatening. 

All the videos from Stephen Watts, Phil Baber, Eley Williams, Verena Durr, Iris Colomb are here www.theenemiesproject.com/illuminations and I'm very happy to say this series, which has had three successful episodes this year, will have another next year, on the remarkable Thomas Bernhard.

Writers' Centre Kingston blog #6 - Remembering was good

My short time so far as direktor of Writers' Centre Kingston has been smooth sailing, the challenges are different, but the remit is clear, and I've been lucky to have friends I've been able to ask to be guest speakers on quite short notice after my summer takeover. Our first few events were all about trying new formats, working student readings next to newly commissioned talks, and trying new venues, but this was all straightforward, the issue has been in a very different event culture in Kingston than in London, or in the other big cities I normally work. What I take to be relatively given and maybe even mundane is perhaps a little startling for others, so that's interesting. But having Iain Sinclair, Tom McCarthy and our beautiful pamphlet series, for example, tends to produce interesting events.

IMG_20171109_215417.jpg

The third event was on the theme of Remembering and saw the best trio of talks I think I've ever been able to commission for a similarly faceted event. Between them Winsome Pinnock, John Stuart and Nell Leyshon produced genuinely remarkable reflections. It was so lovely to see Winsome, who is responsible for me being at Kingston, John, whom I look up to, being an avid history reader interested in the legacy of empire, and Nell, who has really got me writing fiction, and has become a close friend, after we met in Mexico and Peru, and had mad adventures over the last few years, speak together. 

You can see all the videos and pictures here www.writerscentrekingston.com/remembering

Here is a picture Nell sent me after the event, a year old but just developed from film, of us sitting in an event abandoned train carriage in Peru. This event is what I'm trying to do with the centre, inspire students, and anyone interested, anyone in this part of the world, with programmes which feel friendly but have a core of something challenging, something defiant and intellectual.

A note on : Learning to letterpress for 'Hard to Read' exhibition

Had a grand time at the London Print studio, on the grand union canal no less, learning how to manually work a letterpress and how to turn works into photopolymer plates, in order to create a limited edition run of pansemic poems and new minimalist poems for my upcoming exhibition Hard to Read, at the Rich Mix this December. www.stevenjfowler.com/hardtoread

IMG_20171111_121758.jpg
IMG_20171111_164616.jpg

A note on: Subcritical Tests reviewed, briefly, in the Irish times

GorseEditions-SubcriticalTests-Front (1).jpg

It's at the bottom, and spelling words differently than how they are given in a dictionary can be deliberate, and full of meeeninggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/leontia-flynn-serious-about-the-butts-of-her-jokes-1.3291470

"Ailbhe Darcy and SJ Fowler’s collaborative collection, Subcritical Texts, is the first book publication from Gorse (€13). Nicely designed but not entirely typo-free, its poems are often obscure and tense, pulled this way and that in what feels like a tug-of-war between Darcy and Fowler.

Images of nuclear bombs and fall-out recur and, every so often, in among the cross-talk and non sequiturs, pellucid lines or vivid passages emerge whose clarity feels both hard-won and relieving. “It is wrong” they write in Snooperscope,” to think of the day as busy, / or the army as impotent because of cakes / and waltzes. Do not be fooled, you cannot list / your way out of a fight, even with these beautiful men.” This is a strangely compelling book whose productive tensions are well described in Trumpet: “But no winter could be arrived at that / both parties would agree on; / the nations of you writing and I writing.”"

The book is http://gorse.ie/gorse-editions/subcritical-tests/