about
Author: Marcus Silcock
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I’ve baked the memories, stirred the sugar bombs, opened the hatch, de-wormed the cat, the best is yet to come.
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They used to call me chisel face. Happy to have an excerpt from my novel in progress, The Dreamlife of Honey, in new body issue of Lighthouse magazine from Norwich.
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I’ve started thinking more and more about when to order the paper book and when to order the digital book. In most cases, it seems, I am trying to order the paper books only when the book itself is both a beautiful object and I love the writing. Although sometimes I have ordered an ugly…
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Doraji doraji doraji! I walk over the pass where balloon flowers bloom. Hey-ya, hey! An ya hey say yo! I walk over the pass where balloon flowers bloom. Hey-ha hey! An ya hey say yo! Reminds me of mother and twinkling boys. Hey-ya, hey! An ya hey say yo!
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I have finished the second novel of my nomadic surrealist trilogy. The first, Never Mind the Beasts, has the wide lens. The next two the zoom. First person genderless. I am writing a cosmos.
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Don Whiskers and Pineapple live in the Docklands, East London, in a council flat. They visit the river for ancient histories. They take the Mega Bus in the Mega City and visit Amsterdam. They stay on a boat called The Gandalf. Back home, they stand on the balcony from the cheap seats and look at…
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While working in Trieste as a dog walker, and trying to become a writer, he imagines James Joyce, middle class or higher, like almost all artists and writers. He does not have the advantages but also the advantages, coming from somewhere else. You can only do so much, but how much.
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He took a long time to do it, or at least a long time for some. After the mission, at age 20, he went back to N.Ireland and England, tried on a condom at his cousin’s house, just for the fitting. He wanted to become bohemian and watched Pulp Fiction at the theatre. He met…
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Sad disappointing scary day with Polish elections. Here are some poems from Grzegorz Wroblewski. He was there in Warsaw in 80’s. Part of the underground punk network, the fight against fascists and the beginning of democracy.
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After returning home early from the mission, I had my first sexual experience, it was called docking. I took off my secret garments and attended the trial, in a big wooden room. The devils were coming. I couldn’t return to my job at the mercantile. Every job interview in the small town asked me if…
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My debut novel, Never Mind the Beasts, has many movements, from many lifetimes and many countries. When I lived in North America, I lived in many states, both physically and mentally, and you might also say spiritually. I went on a holy mission (from 1993-1994) to Boise, Idaho. Age 19-20. But I returned home early,…
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There is so much of it, and from an early age it was all about the work, working hard to climb a ladder, and we are all climbing ladders, of some sort, hoping for something better, and too much moaning doesn’t help, but it’s there, sometimes hard to put your finger on it, it’s there,…
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Art can help us see and hear and smell and taste and touch with a more attentive mind. And there is so much to explore. Art can help us have a beginner’s mind. Empty and open. Art is my medicine and also my spiritual practice. Here is an interview, upon the release of my first…
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The experimental writer, artist, and musician Stephen Emmerson has been running a podcast entitled “Post Apocalyptic Poems.” Post Apocalyptic Poems is a new series which imagines that an unspecified event has taken place which forces families to take shelter in underground bunkers.You can only take 6 books of poetry with you. When you emerge from…
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Super grateful. My debut novel, Never Mind the Beasts, 10 years in the making from many countries, is now available for ordering. You can choose Blackwell’s or Amazon. Waterstone’s, Foyles, and Barnes and Noble will be added as an ordering option soon. Here is a description: Never Mind The Beasts is Marcus Slease’s second book for…
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Here is an another excerpt from Part One of my novel, Never Mind the Beasts, coming this month (May 2020) from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Religious conversion, E.T., a used Chopper, the dole, government housing, wow comics, the toothbrush lesson, Jesus Christ Superstar, rugby and fire hoops, hammer and piggy, a millennium falcon.
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Field Day, the magic of bathtubs & Milton Keynes roundabouts, a pet gerbil, Copperfield Middle School lunch room, a popped football, peer pressures, Bletchley swimming pool, hot chocolate from a machine, brussel sprouts, a man in the bushes, play dough and Worzel Gummidge, a rock through an old woman’s window.
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The days are moving quickly, and also slowly, it is hard to remember where we started. I am watching the news less and less, and trying to stay healthy in mind as well as body. We are now allowed out, in specific time slots, and it is good to walk out there and exercise the…
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Your surname is supposed to tell you all about your lineage and heritage and prestige. Authors, who want to be prestige, have prestige surnames, some even use initials for their first names. I am not prestige.
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Feeling joy, excitement, gratefulness. Proofs finalized. My novel, Never Mind the Beasts, over 10 years in the making, coming out this month from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. The cover. A 1 dollar high roller Vegas chip, sent to the press by Jennifer Hodgson (She is the person responsible for re-publishing Ann Quin’s works with And Other Stories…
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The first part of Never Mind the Beasts begins in Portadown, N. Ireland, in 1974, during the height of The Troubles, and then moves to Milton Keynes, England in 1980s. Here is a sample reading, from part one of the novel, in N. Ireland and Milton Keynes, England (a homeless shelter, a rocket ship in…
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Two more days till the Stay at Home Fringe Lit Fest, out of Glasgow, and everywhere, and I am thinking about what to read at the Dostoyevsky Wannabe event, from my soon-to-be-released novel, Never Mind the Beasts, 10 plus years in the making. How it has mutated over the years, over and over. First it…
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A week from today, on May 8th, 6PM UK time, I am reading from my first novel, Never Mind the Beasts, coming this month from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Along with some other fab writers from Dostoyevsky Wannabe: Colin Herd, Maria Rose Sledmere Ruthie Kennedy, and Rhian Williams. It’s part of this virtual fringe festival, out of…
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I am super happy to a travelogue from the third novel of my trilogy in progress, The Dreamlife of Honey, in the new issue of Bath Magg.
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In my final year of high school, I moved to a small town in Utah, it was much different than Vegas. Here is a microfiction about small town America, in the early 90s, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May 2020. It is called “Zion.”
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What did you do in biology? Frogs? Baby pigs? Did you colour the muscles. Identify bones? We had a special project with fruit flies. We had to make them mate. Here is a microfiction about fruit flies in high school, in the early 90s, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May 2020.…
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My microfictions, a daily record of the lockdown in Spain, days 10-15, just published on The Growler.
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What is lockdown like where you are? I am writing a third person autofiction of my experiences under lockdown down here in Spain. Days one through nine are published over at Bear Review / The Growler. There are two more installments in the future.
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John Prine died yesterday, and I keep listening to “Hello in There.” I’ve been thinking also of a microfiction, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe next month, entitled “Destroyer and Preserver.” “Destroyer and Preserver” was written in Madrid in 2016, near La Elipa metro stop. It was my first year in…
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When the virus came to Spain, it gathered momentum quickly. The fear. Death is hanging over us, always, but it is here even closer, disrupting our usual distractions. Fear and more fear. Did you touch it? Do I bleach it? How do we boost our immune systems when we are not allowed out for a…
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Spain is in strict lock down, stricter than Italy, no exercise outside, only outside for groceries, pharmacy. But still the numbers are spiking. Following the trend of Italy, soon the health services will be overrun. The whole world is moving into some form of confinement. Hoarding/not hoarding. It is good to keep up our spirits.…
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Here in Spain, nearing the end of the first week of strict lockdown, no walking or exercising outside. Just brief and quick visits to Lidl every few days to buy groceries. 80% or so of people in masks on the street. A few people fully covered with only their eyes showing. Everyone on edge, especially…
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Nice mix of one sentence stories over at Monkeybicycle. Happy to have my microfiction, “Merry-go-round,” in the mix. It is from my novel in progress, The Dreamlife of Honey. The Dreamlife of Honey is part of my nomadic surrealist trilogy. The first novel in the trilogy, Never Mind the Beasts, is forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May…
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Here is microfiction, a kind of postcard, or vignette, from Rome, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May 2020.
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You need the good ones, and not too much of the bad ones, but sometimes in killing the bad ones, you also kill the good ones. You need enough of the good ones, to kill the bad ones. How do you kill the bad ones, without killing the good ones? Here is a microfiction from…
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It is hard to find a good hat. Back then, more than now, I was searching for a good hat. Although a good hat is always a good hat. Here is a microfiction from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe in May 2020. It is called “Rabbit Hat.”
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Did you know the hunks? I was never a hunk, but I learned to love the word. Hunk. It feels chunky. I love chunky. I like my chocolate chunky, and also my peanut butter. A hunk of hair is also good. And the hunks of the universe. There are so many hunks. Here is a…
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When we immigrated to America, in the 1980s, we started off in a trailer park, in Vallejo, California. We sat on a sofa and watched the telly. There were so many adverts. We weren’t used to the adverts. There were TV Dinners, and for many weeks we watched the meat helper. It was supposed to…
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In the 1980s I lived in Coffee Hall, in Milton Keynes. Near coffee Hall, there was Bean Hill. The underpass between Beanhill and Coffee Hall was painted with a Wizard of Oz theme. Magic! I went to Copperfield Middle School, now closed since 31/3/2004, and there was a special teacher: Miss Foster. It was the…
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In 2016, I received a commission from the Austrian Cultural Forum in London to write something in the spirit of the Vienna Secessionists. I was super happy to have one of the poems from the commission in the faith issue of Tin House Magazine. The poem, “Sacred Spring,” was also published in my book The…
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The crowd is dangerous, and also liberating, but mostly dangerous. A mob. When you’re younger: peer pressure. When I lived in Milton Keynes, Coffee Hall housing estate, there was a place for playing football, next to the playground. I showed up in my red Liverpool kit. Liverpool was everything, especially Ian Rush. I wanted a…
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When I moved to Madrid, in the summer of 2016, I learned Spanish expressions. One of them was “a bug in the house.” It was also my first year with the famous Spanish lottery. Lower middle class living per always, the lottery was tempting. & we played, like so many millions (or is billions) of…
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I used to deal with the body and blood of Jesus, on a Sunday, kneeling over it. I was mostly an introverted quiet kid and Jerry was stud muffin. I lifted weights in gym, but only my legs got bigger. Jerry had rock hard cleavage. His hair was perfect. He wore a gold chain when…
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In 2016, I received a commission from the Austrian Cultural Forum in London to write something in the spirit of the Vienna Secessionists. Here is one part of the commission, published in The Green Monk as “Great Expectations.”
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Here is a prose poem from The Green Monk. Written in a poorly ventilated, black mold infested room in London, reminiscing about the glory days of the late 90s, bleached hair, bar dips for bigger bums. It is called “Built to Spill.”
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What is The Green Monk? It is many things. Hopefully, a good journey. Here are some questions, and brief answers, about influences, images, nomadic surrealism. The great project of reconciling dream and reality. Thank you Boiler House Press.
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Here is a small excerpt, from my novel in Microfiction, Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming in May 2020 from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. This one takes place in Milton Keynes, England, after the conversion, before immigrating to America. It is called “God is Watching You.”
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Long ago, in another lifetime, I lived in Milton Keynes, England, on a government housing estate called Coffee Hall. Long ago, in another lifetime, I was knocked down by a car, in Portadown, with a poke in my hand. Long ago, in another lifetime, with my childhood friend Tina Adams, playing a game of stepping…
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Landscape and lifescape, how can we know which is which, in other words inside outside, but we like to make the difference, isn’t it important to make the difference? If your outside becomes your inside, or vice versa, well you’re a reversible coat. Do you remember the 80s? I was wearing a bomber style awesome…
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“The Big Fire at the Architectural College” by Andrei Voznesensky (translated by Anselm Hollo) originally appeared in City Lights Pocket Poets Series No 16. Published in 1962, and entitled Red Cats, Hollo included translations of three Russian poets: Yevgeni Yevtushenko, Andrei Voznesensky, and Semyon Kirsanov. Here is a reading of “The Big Fire at the…
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Time is moving fast and faster. 3 years in Spain after over 8 years in London, plus many other countries besides. The thrill of new places, like the thrill of anything, has a short lifespan, but it is still good, overall, here. Madrid was the first city, before here near Barcelona, and it is a…
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Collage was invented by the surrealists and Max Ernst took it to another level. Now, of course, collage is a common method, but it is still magical. There are so many ways to do it, in language and visual arts etc. Play Yr Kardz Right is almost 3 years old. It came after Rides, which…
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Han Shan/Cold Mountain is a figure from the Chinese Tang Dynasty. His poetry is in the Taoist and Chan Buddhist tradition. No one knows who he was, when he lived and died, or whether he actually existed. He was a hermit and wrote his poems on rocks. Han Shan, jazz, Buddhism, and surrealism, were influences…
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Happy to have some of my nomadic surrealist prose poems in issue 23 of Blackbox Manifold. These prose poems/microfictions are from The Dreamlife of Honey, the third book of my nomadic surrealist trilogy, still in progress. Thank you to the editors, Alex Houen and Adam Piette! Issue 23 of Blackbox Manifold features work by Josh…
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Farewells to Plasma by Natasza Goerke is bloody brilliant. Playful and mind expanding short stories. Maybe my fav surrealist short story writer. Along with Leonora Carrington. I want more!
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This prose poem/flash fiction, entitled “Feast Day,” from my book The Green Monk (Boiler House Press 2018), is about the anticipation of the feast day. There are many feast days. You can create your own. Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dali liked to mix surrealism and food. It is a good mix. This prose poem is…
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What is that big ball of energy? Is it alive? What is alive? Here is a prose poem from my book The Green Monk. It is all about the sun.
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I’m honored to announce that my story “Jitters” has been nominated for inclusion in Best Microfiction, 2020. The Best Microfiction anthology series considers stories of only 400 words or fewer. Co-edited by award-winning microfiction writer/editor Meg Pokrass, and Flannery O’Connor Prize-winning author Gary Fincke, the anthology will have Michael Martone serve as final judge. Best…
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A collaboration between the Polish artist and writer Grzegorz Wroblewski and the South African artist Doris Bloom, at the Warsaw Literary Museum, takes as it’s starting point The New Colony (2003), an experimental treatise/novel/play, in the tradition of Kafka and Beckett. Both Bloom and Wróblewski are immigrants to Denmark and their work probes “the endless…
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I am teaching an online class, in March 2020, for the The Poetry School in London. The nature of life is change and clinging to the illusion of permanence often leads to suffering, of one kind or another, but rather than anxiety, this life, full of change, can become a source of joy and wonder.…
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I don’t like to sell. Perhaps you are a seller. I am not a good seller. Long ago, at Matrixx Marketing I was a seller, but I am no longer a seller. I am not motivated by numbers and targets. Others, I am sure, are motivated by numbers. Looking back, selling accidental death insurance, all…
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A surrealist poem from the Serbian poet Ljiljana Đurđić. Ljiljana Đurđić has published three collections of poetry, including Swedish Gymnastics. She is also a terrific translator of Sylvia Plath.
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The Little Shop of Horrors, a classic from America, about an accidental mass murderer, feeding humans to a plant, from my novel in progress, The Dreamlife of Honey.
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A Sunday flashback. A wee reading, from my book Rides (2014), with cut ups and collages, straight from the heart and shuffled from the surrealist deck of cards called life.
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My prose poem, “Flora and Fauna,” part of my nomadic surrealist novel The Dreamlife of Honey, the third in a trilogy, still in progress, just published at OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters. Based on experiences teaching English in Bielsko Biala, Poland. Many years ago. etc.
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Super happy to have my surreal prose poem “Horses” (inspired in part by Leonora Carrington) nominated for the Best of the Net. Thank you Bear Review!!
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by Charles Baudelaire
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This prose poem was written in the mid-seventeenth century by the Spanish Jesuit priest, scholar and philosopher Baltasar Gracian. It is taken from the book A Pocket Mirror for Heroes (trans. Christopher Maurer).
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From The Doll’s Alphabet, by Camilla Grudova, Fitzcarraldo Editions. A fantastic collection of stories, with hints of Margaret Atwood, Angela Cater, Richard Brautigan, and Leonora Carrington.
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Super happy to have an excerpt from my forthcoming novel Never Mind the Beasts (formerly The Autobiography of Don Whiskers) in the new issue of Plaster Cocktail: Invisible Monsters. Thanks to the editors Polina Riabova and Stephanie Maida for including me in this fab issue. Cathartic art and reading! The novel is coming out in…
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This is a very brief excerpt from the opening of my new hybrid novel in progress: Squid on the Barbie. What is relationship between your environment and happiness? Influenced by the classical philosophy of the Epicureans and Buddhists, as well as the revolution of the surrealists, Pineapple and Don Whiskers move to Spain for a…
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Poem: Vasko Popa. Translation: Charles Simic. Reading: Marcus Slease. Images: Dora Maar & Claude Cahun
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By Andre Breton. 1935.
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A fairy tale for numbers by the poet Vasko Popa. Terrific nighttime reading.
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Falling in love, more and more, with Vasko Popa. His selected, translated by Charles Simic, is terrific. (Background Music: Jimmy Giuffre’s “Scootin’ About” & “Cry, Want.”)
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A story about cosmic evolution, romance, beards & shaggy carpets. From my book The Green Monk. “Where is your black hole? Only survival of the fittest. Black holes.”
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Terrific review by Tom Jenks of my book The Green Monk. You can read it over at Stride magazine. Lydia Davis, Daniil Kharms. Yes please! The Green Monk is available from Boiler House Press. It has a very nice design. Good to touch. And also read.
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Saliva at high tide. The sun soaks in your gastric pool. From The Emissary by Yoko Tawada.
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This is a song from my Irish childhood called chuck chuck cheese. It has been slightly altered. I sung it three times with different types of altered voices (high, deep, child’s voice) then combined them into one track and added old Freudian cartoon to go with it. You can listen over here: Chuck chuck cheeze
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I have a flash fiction invisible monster in new issue of Plastic Cocktail. Plastic Cocktail is in Bushwick. Bushwick is in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is in New York City. Someday maybe I will see Bushwick. I have seen New York City, but it was mostly in the movies.
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From my new novel in progress for the summer. It’s called The Dreamlife of Honey. Here is the current description: From the over-stimulation and financial stresses of London to a slower life in Madrid and Barcelona, Don Whiskers and Pineapple are ready to live simply with less ambition. What is the relationship between your environment…
Never Mind the Beasts 