Never Mind the Beasts

Website of surreal-absurd writer Marcus Silcock

Author: Marcus Silcock

  • publishing genius

  • one month intense TESOL course. Two more weeks. Then I can think again. Got a gig for 10 weeks at a small college in Feb-April teaching students from Senegal and India. Yeah. New book coming soon from Harry’s Arthur Shilling Press. Poetry from 2008. Part Dante in London. Lots of areas in London covered. YEAH!!!!

  • Karavan Amigos I’m crouching with the march of the penguins in a oversized parkaa world not yet deadI am not the erection of a eunuchthe buts and the knavesI’m dialing in and i don’t wanna say ithumba wombadry coughs from the radiatorare you feeling fitty?how this then methinkssomebody’s drunk my milkI am not yet the…

  • Karavan Amigos I’m crouching with the march of the penguinsin a oversized parkaa world not deadbut sometimes the erection of a eunuchas a wet tableclothas a community you deserve better prigsdeep down beneath the maniacal weatherabove the buts and the knavesi’m dialing in and i don’t want to say itdry coughs from the radiatorhow this…

  • 18th Dec 2010(return to London) given what we have seenRyanair equals sardinesmy bag is in number 29and I am in number 3they are playing Mozartthe elf a stewardesswrapped in tinselselling everything“your captain invites youto read the card in front of you”i’m over my usual weighti didn’t do much with Italywhy couldn’t i have been Joycein…

  • WOOD GREEN. NORTH LONDON. the footpath bucklesthese are the markers who steps on my stepswe’re tailor made what’s in yr food chain? murals of an albatrossbroken shoulders as a community you deservebetter pigs and also stilt is it lazy to be placedwith the rats? oh this lifethis life we are all mostly all the erectionof…

  • 19th December 2010(London) I can’t quite tell you where I have been what’s left to I can’t quite tell I left my finger on the start button and the washer wouldn’tstart we have you in the asylum in the anthemsof the serious objects are closer than they appear fry my loose endsthese words are a…

  • 7th October 2010 I am a lucid lucya listless chill in the gloaming with a thickening of birds I am the slap of the line the buzzing of mopheads I am that short espresso the shaking of tailsthe yoke yellow walls spread out the window I am a cough a sniffle an old man’s head…

  • <a href="http://www.realitystreet.co.uk/kens-blog/the-captain-and-monk&quot;>CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

  • 1.5 hours till i leave for the airport. here we go. london . . . .

  • 15 December 2010 under the salty moonfull on pizzawith salty doughpeople comminoutta train stationwith wheelssunday returnsgone thickergone thinnergone itchywith winterand doghairsyr sentiments are nice but not surprisingideas are sandin my bathing trunkswhich i don’t owni was due to returnto Turkey but hereI am planning for Londoni am thatperky little pugbarking at shadowsi am here and…

  • 6th December 2010Via di Roiano, Trieste I am a tense cannibal think deeperabove the furyhop flop into hope30X30 illusionary surfaceswe have many minuteswe have you surroundedkeep swallowing your dog hair 12th December 2010Trieste train station park Novo Hotel Impero(left shoulder) stairs to tunnel(right shoulder) bench(ass) kebab ali baba(eyes) 30th November 2010Trieste Train Station Park fake…

  • 16th December 2010 a little lovefeastbanging on invisibleheadboards the tired gruntsof a goldenretriever this goesvery slowly there are so manymolecules I shd be satisfiedat some point i am kickedin some stupid places let me thinkwithout bliss is a simple thing i take uploving the golden ones smellsa bit better from a name brand galaxy into…

  • New issue of Past simple edited by Marcus Slease and Grzegorz Wróblewsk

  • THE VALUE OF EDUCATION MADE LITERAL

  • Trendy Club (Elblag, Poland) put a hole in your skullsays Rogerthe lidis openbut where are my eyesmy balcony opensdelicious flavourswhat wonderful timingdon’t let themkeep you herei am giving youa ride homeI have not adaptedI envy my neighbourstheir incredible skill

  • TEXT mighty fine band . .. pics remind me of my days in Poland . . . .

  • Cardinal Sundowns tell me of the shadows hither in St. Nicholaslate in the eveningin the gibber and gabber with domino Roger late in the eveningbaba baba in the bean polesin the beetrootslate in the eveningwith the squawk and squeekof plastic knees on palmstwins of my bosomstittering and skitheringjimmied into shiny skinzim tim microclustersin yonder elms…

  • Danzig-Gdansk an umbrella in my handa mirror in my eyescovered insmog this citychanges handsplay kiss mewatch all the indiekids in t-shirtsfor months I couldnot savemy blue lipsmy language lackeda futurea smite will keepfor a while me and my lightningflashesme and a toy cowyou can ridehalf drunkwith a mouldy old ghostin the houseof 100 beers

  • Language consists of five basic sounds produced by the vocal cords. They are the vowels a, e, i, o, u. The other sounds are consonants produced by air pressure: s, f, g, and so forth. Do you believe some combination of such basic sounds could ever explain who you are, or the ultimate purpose of…

  • 21st November 2010 Pancakes provide solidity. Syrup is my get-up. Rain drips from the light swinging from a wire in the centre of the street. The bora is returning. My bum is cold please close the window. Hello world helloi’ve tried to re-upmy realitiesare short livedi’ve not liveda story Mew is playing on my broken…

  • 25th November 2010 Trieste Doggie Park a gooey ganglialived in creepy innsno guts for creedsI threw away the plasticthat housed my szynkahaven’t brushed my teeth but I’m on my feeta dumb shinefor the haughtyis that you in front of mecoming backfor exactly the same?I have a nameI have been given a namemore than oncetried to…

  • Whatever Buzzes the BrainSopot, Poland (August 17th 2009)for Magda Bethge this is the fishthis is the beerthis is the wooden tablethese are the rollerbladesI snapped you one-legged nearthe lopsided housethis is the beachfeet dig deepinto sandwe used to meet in a communist hotelwe bowledwe spiritedmy hand is on your shouldermy hand is in the framethe…

  • Danzig-Gdansk good morning gateswet wet stonesmouldy old ghosta toy cow you can ridethe weight of a post office after the showplay kiss mewandering through gatesand side streetslong way to city limitssluggin a sackcovered in doghairwe reach the house of 100 beers

  • September 2009. Elblag, Poland. Cardinal Sundowns thank you for comingI wanted to say somethingabout the shadows of St. Nicholasthat Roger spottedwhile swallowing beatsfrom the beat machinelate in the eveningall the older women in the grocery storestaring at phone creditI have no idea whyI am happeningat the dinner partyI ate Polish Indian currymy knees were reacquaintedwith…

  • 15-11-2010 Trieste Train Station signs: MAXIMILLIAN RESIDENCEJOLLY CAVOURROMAALLA POSTA Elisabetta statuesupplicants and musesshe has a perfectrumpplus two plucked breastsbearded man beside herin old agebut still sportinga six pacthis is halfwayto Decemberand the lightfuck itwho cares about the light ———————————————– these are collapsible sticksbooooooooooooooooooooooooo———————————————– where in the worldto watchit goit’s not so badto feel my visionslippinout…

  • as a rule my other half-lifeex everythingin the era of hairspraythe situation lies on both sidesashing into paper cupscontemplating the windowsAmerica my Dairy Queen

  • how good it feelsto stuffthe cabbageI’ve tattooeda squintof humourbelow yr nipple watch this space:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::my fingerstouch celestialjuice———————————————————–Concrete Pier (Trieste, Italy) across from the Piazza Unitasittingon a metal mushroomsculptureteenagers in shaggyclothingsit on a concretepierlooking out overlight and ripplesbora gone quieta circle of blue lights from steady traffici write with neongreen penipod shuffle spinning in my earthis is…

  • workers and students unite!

  • Great time in Prague. What a city!!! Picked up some fab books and met some super cool folks. Louis Armand and David Vichnar, Holly Tavel, Jason Mashak, Richard Tippen, Ondrej Pilny, Joshua Mensch and others . . . . good readings . . . some interesting film screenings . . . great walks around the…

  • 14 October 2010 all the mornings of the worldI’m savedsocks are holy bee stings are not my tongue has drunkthe lust of yr race ———————————————–supreme lucidity: when the lightsdie down a camel ravishesa goat and in the encyclopedia ofyr brown eyes I find a no-moss mind—————————————————this is my Italian translation: Easter is marriedto Hades but…

  • friends made a nice wee chapbook of selected work called Primitive Pianos :-) flying from venice. staying 2 min from the old town in Prague. 6 nights of poetry. Prague here i come!!!

  • The 2010 Prague Microfestival features readings, music and film screenings, with performances by Irish-American poet Marcus Slease, Berlin poets Donna Stonecipher & Alistair Noon, and Prague writers Hana Androniková, Holly Tavel, Thor Garcia, Ken Nash, Laura Conway, Louis Armand, Joshua Mensch, Stephan Delbos, Sara Quiroga Navarro… Films by Stephanie Barber, Bill Mousoulis, Abigail Child, Henry…

  • Trieste when Joyce left here his Dublinwas complete occult bread on a platterspasmsin the inlet I let out a yawl in 23 accentsand my past lives left me what gets inthe eyes: a saucer of lightink smudge on the Victorian walls my pigeons oh my pigeonswe hover over lost pointselse hoover up the antics we…

  • heading to Prague to read some of my new work. check it: Prague Microfest

  • a newspaper soaked in bloodor oilor gluedto a balloonor fishedin vinegar she got fired upwe got fed he got listless chillsfrom the magnum opus there is proof in the half note in the not quitemagic of another spoof

  • living in Trieste Italia . . . James Joyce statue and bridge . . . white castle. . . . Rilke . . . prosciutto . . . strong short coffee . . real pizza . . . cheese that knocks off your _____, kickin it in another land!!!

  • DREAMS INSIDE A CUCUMBER i nay say i took and so we all must on this pre-dawn marriage bed in a trembling Turkish noon

  • my new chapbook Nerve Fibre: London has printed . . . yippie . . . hurrah . . .a bit of Dante . . . a bit of purgatory . . . poems written around tube stops while i lived in London . . . with some great old pictures of London transportation . .…

  • 1. Eski Yeni Their bodies were made from a slice of toast, the kind you put under roast piegeons (Sartre, Nausea) I’m writing to you in this weather among buckets of bumble bees I’m with slow tonguethese leopard skins are not my people children squatters & shoe shinners sinners oh my sinnersthe little twirpssingA NAY…

  • Three weeks of not writing. No. perhaps four. And wondering if I can still write. That’s worst time. between projects. Just working long hours at a language school. now moving into friend’s house for a while until my paperwork is sorted out with the state university in Ankara. might not have internet for a week…

  • Hamam oh Cemal there are no candles on a navel stonea man grew me frightenedin the manner of chips I was friedand I became the method of sandpaperand I didn’t expect this from my facesloppy seconds from buckets of water an idiom of red spotsaspirations of presencein this way I was wiped clean

  • KARAMAN (Anatolia) the city is under construction. the newly planted trees provide no shade. students pack every morning into the dolmus with peasants and workers. In the centre new buildings go up and look old before they are finished. nothing matches. we sit at a table with Turkish tea. glass cups. redish tint. a gypsy…

  • AMASRA the dijinns are relativethis is affecting a lot of peoplenear youa good wonderfulkismettoss yr hairsqueeze meoffcheck that fish with lungs ***************************************** i met your moodsout to lunchspices of the black seafish with coca colaa tinkling of knivesthat mountainmade pregnantwith Zeusfog *****************************************you were an armfulslipping out the balconythe flies won’tleave me alonei’ve an inklingto becomea…

  • Adam is a mighty fine poet and translator . His translations of Grzegorz Wroblewski, A Marzipan Factory, were just published by Otoliths. He has the touch with Wroblewski’s translations into English. I dig it. No doubt, if read, many more will dig it!!! Tender elliptical Kafkaesque dramatic situations spun oh so well!!! witty, charming, slender,…

  • miss this fine fella in North Carolina!!! B. Howe’s Wax Wroth

  • I have often had a discussion with non-poets and their feelings after attending an innovative event (reading or festival) and they reported a feeling of perplexity. Not because they didn’t enjoy the work. Some hated poetry, or at least disliked it, but often really enjoyed the variety of work at an innovative poetry event. No…

  • in response to a review of Tom Raworth in which the reviewer argues that so-called difficult poetry is anti-capitalist and difficult “modernist’ poetry carries more political weight than the movement/mainstream poetry in the UK with its easily summarised themes and conversational speech and so on . . ..the old language school argument . . .…

  • Mugla(Turkish wedding) born for the voiddry dolls fallaround methere are ikonsthere are ikons morehorrible than angels mangledin the trees the spermscentedgardens with goat’scheese the groom did the gorilla the bride pinedwith money the upchoke of sea scents the special chimneys what passesfor my mindballistic reportsas you disappearedeverything is not too ha ha melancholy wakings nowattack…

  • here comes the windthe blinds clacking like stuck penguins I’m sleeping with a flower venderon a moped with a bell from helllet’s part the hood and ride our Hegelian brides with the wicked smiles of those who jerkoff and off in solid white cloudy tissuesand the ashes of Irish mermaids, yep, them i clog alongin…

  • in this Karamandesert i’m beat beat there is a sweatstorm in my trousers and if you find yourselffalling apart there is a rain of mudand a lake of salt I’m posed and poppinglike a peacock what used to calmrips my life to ribbons my gut kicksmap it blind i can’t say it’s a sicknessbut a…

  • what was the fate of the turtle gripping the talons of the eagle?do you miss sauerkraut stew?do you miss the bubbles of Polish beer?before you fall asleepchronicles spray against the white walls ofyon minda pensioner of the voidbroccoli dust on the night sheetsto be like plums in an icebox lazy PUG!my family owned peaches and…

  • breakfast: white cheese, tomatoes, fresh bread, orange juice with a drop of wodka readings: A Marzipan Factory by Grzegorz WroblewskiSeoul Bus Poems by Jim GoarThe Story of England by Tom Beaumont JamesI Too Went to the Hunt of the Deer by Lale MulderSmall Gods by Terry PratchettNausea by SartreNadja by Andre BretonGangway 40 (expatriations): http://www.gangway.net/40/index.shtmlCleaves:…

  • ANTALYA I’m writing to you in this weatheramong buckets of bumble bees I am trying to write as ifsomething is happening to you these leopard skins are not my people I do not understand your way of turning an animal curls up in silencereality cannot be forced I bought a jacketeveryone kept calling us German…

  • some poems from Primitive Pianos (Polish section) in new issue of Gangway: Gangway #40 – Expatriations: The expatriat edition

  • art is recontextualization underwhelmed???? NO WAY MAN!!!

  • And I am always trying to think about how to write. As if starting over again. So that I am using different modes all the time and seem to resist doing what I know how to do, resist using modes I may think I have gotten good at. In some visceral way, my feeling is…

  • EDA (Istanbul) Adana kebab is sizzling behind me in Sultanahmeta man in an all-white suit gets his shoes shinnedI’m skinned he speaks of Kurdish and Armenian symbols animals & patternsSilk. Wool. Silk & wool. Crosses. the azan prayer booms from mosque to mosque in surround soundI move among the crowds of Taksim I run my…

  • MIND SORES eagles search for turtles to drop and crack upon the rocks this is a tangible instant of a pure orgasmcracks in the hands of a moviestreamthe body of a cracked doorsun crackles across this country of mosquesdirty scientists gather a genesis of lightcracked armies attack the honeycombshow fast the summer passes with drumspeons…

  • MIND SORES eagles search for turtles to drop and crack upon the rocks this is a tangible instant of a pure orgasmcracks in the hands of a moviestreamthe body of a cracked doorsun crackles across this country of mosquesdirty scientists gather a genesis of lightcracked armies attack the honeycombshow fast the summer passes with drumspeons…

  • dawn’s kingdommaketh me beside the rancidwaters swift with myantlers my tawny bride engorgeme

  • DETOUR(Karaman, Turkey) here comes the windthe blinds are clacking like stuck penguins in an Anatolian desert this plywood mouth moves the soul ala ala the soul in mouldy chariots and crumbling zeus bricks superstars of the civil wars

  • GOLDEN HANDCUFFS REVIEW

  • Celestial Teabags(Karaman, Turkey) there is a sweatstorm in my trouserscelestial teabagsofficianadoswise onesthe sun whosesubjectis neurosisflames of disenchantmentthe blinds are rattling sexology sigh it is hard to keeptrack of my buttons reality is a sandwich stuckbetween my knuckles i’m in facta thing a thing in this mountain towncovered women & more goat cheese cross women slapping…

  • Artangel | Stranger in a strange city: Janet Cardiff on The Missing Voice (Case Study B)

  • think like this: “May all creatures be happy and safe,May they all have happy minds. Whatever living things there are –whether feeble or strong,long or short, whether stoutor of medium size, whether quick or green,whether big or little, whether seen or unseen whether those living near or far away,or those being born as well as…

  • Grzegorz Wróblewski’s A Marzipan Factory A Marzipan Factory is the most original and enticing book of poems I have read in years. It is Kafkaesque and yet tender, cynical and yet warm, elliptical and yet wholly immediate. GRZEGORZ WRÓBLEWSKI can take the most ordinary of phenomena and then give them the twist of a knife:…

  • Gluttons (original) It is 03.28 on the second day and my fridge is full of Pınar Doğal Yoğurt. There is a haze of lights outside my window. I’m at REAL shopping centre. Prayers crowned the air. I was a translated clam. This is where the world’s nuts are made. I’m waiting for the ruins of…

  • Gluttons Bu 03,28 ikinci günü ve benim buzdolabı Pınar Doğal Yoğurt doludur. Benim pencere dışında ışıkları bir pus olduğunu. Ben REAL alışveriş merkezi daha kötüyüm. Dualar hava taçlandırdı. Ben tercüme istiridye oldu. Burası dünyanın fındık yapılmış olmasıdır. Ben bir Roma hamamı kalıntıları bekliyorum. Ben Augustus tapınağı bekliyorum. Ben Secure Confident Geleceğe Anıt bekliyorum! Herkes sert…

  • Hamam(Ulus, Ankara) the upchoke of black crumbs thesemelancholy wakings nowattack the nipplesin the Hamam a manslapped mewith soap bubblesand scrubbed my face with sandpaperred dots spot my backwhat is raki without rhyme what is lion’s milk what are bluejays without Hermes my hymenamenthe peopleare still movingunassailed theyare free in their pussiesand crocks free to lovein…

  • REALLY LOVE THE POEMS IN HERE!! PAPER BAG

  • New Girls and Room Full of Surprises

  • Flying Bird Teahouse (Insadong) the sun on myfinches the feathersin my cup less plumbersmany electricians an evening performance of fruit sellers Utopia Spa cold poolsskating shakesheated floorwooden pillowsstrawsleather lumpsunsheathedpale drainagenever stop winking

  • fresh hot and bloody good: Jim Goar’s Seoul Bus Poems

  • Itaewon searching for nan and Russianspot-bellied smart and tartZen Blud lust dhar ma top-ped rice cake orange fish eggs & salmon slices oh boy as regards this meathole tonked up testy & smiling mind finds a home on the grounda beard between me & my mouth cramping at the knee swamp grass yogi-YO! the allegory…

  • Q. And have you any belief as to the purpose which the authors had in mind in writing the Ern Malley poems? A. They claimed to be hoaxing the members of a modernistic culturism. Q. Don’t you believe that Ern Malley’s poems were never intended to be serious work at all? A. I have no…

  • ahhhh now this is what it is about. community!!! Miss this poetry community. Openned was an amazing resource for innovative British poetry. A bit like the Poetry Project in New York City. But alas someone rich bought the space and there was no more art space. No more Foundry. Here are some video clips from…

  • MOVEMENT AND MOTION to get from the ship to the wave is a motion the movement is what happens my lover is movement what is a motion of a lover if not an apology for death? I has many notions movements take place inside the coalshed else inside a coal cooker a coalhead the paint…

  • PETER ORLOVSKY <a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/peter-orlovsky-namaste.html“>PETER ORLOVSKY 2 This is how I wanna go at the end . . . . . alas of course . . . we don’t have really have a choice . . . a life lived!!!

  • YOU KILL YOURSELF TO RAISE THE DEAD ——————————————————————the animals on a very bright day offer professions of good will. one month ago, near the shores of the Bosphorus, i slept on a park bench then ate a potato. the Bosphorus is not an empty background. this gut kicks or rather there is a stranger at…

  • PLAYING DRESS UP this gut kicks. this is a stranger and a strangler. i stain these curtains.——————————————————————i found grieving in the grass. I found a pervert in my throat. Don’t mistake the ships for the waves. If you suspect a voice do not employ it. the animals on a very bright day offer professions of…

  • PLAYING DRESS UP this gut kicks. this is a stranger and a strangler. i stain these curtains. a wave of ships.——————————————————————i found grieving in the grass. don’t you swallow.—————————————————————— you kill yourself to raise the dead. all the people that we’ve _______ and all the people that we’ve_______ you kill yourself to raise the dead.…

  • PLAYING DRESS UP this gut kicks. this is a stranger and a strangler. i stain these curtains. a wave of ships. i found grieving in the grass. don’t you swallow. all the people that we’ve _______ and all the people that we’ve_______ you kill yourself to raise the dead. the years flash. what goes thin…