ABSURDIST LITERATURE
Articles about Modernist and Contemporary Literature in the Absurdist Tradition
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‘Golden Trumpet’: A Microfiction
The memory of the 90s Salt Lake City underground—the legendary nights at Bricks and The Sun—was violently punctuated by a freak tornado that slammed downtown as the millennium turned. You can read the full story now, alongside a brilliant flash by Karen Crawford, as this week’s featured MicroMonday over at Fictive Dream: https://fictivedream.com/2025/11/24/micromonday-33/ Read more
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Surreal-Absurd Sampler Aaron Kent
This bi-weekly feature surreal-absurd at Mercurius is chalk-full of freshness. The latest, the poetry of Aaron Kent, features the belly of a dinosaur, avatar’s eating themselves from the inside, making the milk rounds, oceans of flame and the universe as a diamond. It is activism. The serious colliding with the absurd. Check out the poems… Read more
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Jeff Hilson Surreal-Absurd
“Is there anything more beautifully absurd than Kenneth Koch’s tiny play about the island of Madagascar breaking away from the African continent, or Hannah Weiner’s code of signals Romeo and Juliet? I’m currently writing a series of very short plays about fungi, as well as making a record of all the dreams I’ve been having… Read more
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William Erikson Surreal-Absurd
Terrific surreal-absurd feature at Mercurius this week. It’s William Erikson. There are many doozies. Here is part of one called BBC: “A young man lifts his hands to the sun and the sun becomes / honey. He opens his mouth to the moon and the moon becomes / breath mints.” Read more of William Erikson’s… Read more
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Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi
“Living is a language of hunger I want to make love to a man No not a man exactly but I want to Make love to something extremely hairy . . .” This week’s surreal absurd sample of Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi will tingle yr pineal. Head on over here to read more: tingletingle Read more
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Natalie Shaw Surreal-Absurd Sampler
They are magical boxes, or very intricate paper pop-ups, or entire carved worlds waiting to be tipped out of a hollowed-out bean. Each one has its own logic and necessariness. – Natalie Shaw This week’s surreal-absurd at Mercurius magazine is Natalie Shaw. Check out her wild poems over here Read more
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Lesle Lewis Surreal-Absurd
I think of it as a spectrum and not a binary division of real from surreal or sense from nonsense. I think of it as inclusive, the surreal being part of the real, the real as part of the surreal, the sensical in nonsense and the nonsense in sense, a new sense. Read more
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NAKED FREEDOM
Here is a low key reading of my prose poem “Sandals” in issue Sprung Formal 18. Perhaps my last publication as Slease. Read more
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SPRUNG FORMAL 18
Happy as Larry to have prose poems in new issue of Sprung Formal from the Kansas City Art Institute. Beautiful art object too. Maybe my last publication as Slease. Stinky thinker alerts in South Korea. Fiestas in Sitges. I am no longer wearing socks with my sandals. Read more
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OPENING TO DREAMLIFE OF HONEY
After devouring everything Édouard Levé, Thomas Bernhard, Clarice Lispector, Lydia Davis, Annie Ernaux, Rachel Cusk, David Markson, & Jon Fosse, I found a way to move forward with my second autoficiton novel, The Dreamlife of Honey. There are still some touches, forever touches, or maybe tweaks, to move the manuscript into book form, plus, of… Read more
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Hasso Krull
Reading Six Estonia Poets from the New Voices from Europe & Beyond series from Arc Publications. Terrific project, & needed. Hasso Krull is becoming a fav poet, & others in there interesting too. Here is one of Krull’s poems. More can be found over here too at Poetry International. Read more
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Grzegorz Wróblewski – Surreal-Absurd Prose poems – Translated by Peter Burzinsky
Some surreal-absurd prose poems of Grzegorz Wróblewski over at Tupelo Quarterly, translated by Peter Burzinsky. Read more
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Mark Waldron Surreal-Absurd Sampler
“The dirty old unconscious is always toiling away down there, cooking up something peculiar and true; day in, day out; night in, night out; which might be turned into a poem.”—Mark Waldron 2022 kicks off with Mark Waldron. A surreal-absurd sampler. You can read them here at Mercurius. Read more
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Luke Kennard
“I think the poems I really love are the ones where the thought is happening (or being reanimated) in front of you.”— Luke Kennard Read more
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Jenna Clake
“My favourite Absurdist poetry is the kind that pulls you into a dreamlike situation, and makes you question what is real, what isn’t, and whether that even matters.”—Jenna Clake This week’s surreal-absurd sampler is a doozy over at Mercurius Read more
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Judson Hamilton
“These poems are from a manuscript I’m working on called The Vogue for Flatness, so we’re still learning about one another. Poems for me are a way to filter the world, to make sense of it, to live in it. Perhaps it’s having been raised in suburbia or a childhood steeped in comics and cable… Read more
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Patricia Farrell
“touching my dancing hands like a robot back walking that I don’t feel too sorry for but I know the cold that’s hitting me was hitting my face to the claws ” Read more
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James Knight
This surreal absurd sampler is a nice combo. Some psycho-sexual Bird King poems from James Knight and art from Alex Stevens. Check em out over here at Mercurius. Read more
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Glen Armstrong
“I’ve been writing requiems for people I admire lately, some of them fictional, some of them still alive. These folks may have ended up on gum wrappers or Mr. Cobain’s t-shirt or Mr. Zapruder’s movie. They usually share a unique talent that still can’t compensate for a unique and profound sadness. These are a few… Read more
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Mark Russell
“They mine the ways in which we deceive and are deceived; how our pursuit of meaning and intimacy so persistently misfires; how unremitting is the absurdity, and yet how heartily we laugh into it.” Read more
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Charles J. March III
” . . . blame ‘the Other,’ who claims to be an ironic, apocalyptic iconoclast, who had nothing but a deadpan beside him and marijuana garden beneath to piss in whilst swinging from the gallows and birthing this into existence.” – Charles J March III Check out this terrific surreal-absurd sampler of erasure poems from… Read more
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Brian Clifton
“There was a game I used to play as a child. My friends and I would turn off the lights of a room and stare at each other’s faces. Because we could only see vague outlines, our imaginations would fill in the details, would distort the faces we knew until they were strange and stranger.”… Read more
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Lorelei Bacht
“I grew up on French surrealisme (my mother would read us Paul Eluard’s poetry at bedtime) and I visit this open-ended poetic space whenever I am struggling to make sense of things and/or to write anything sensical. Sometimes, I manage to catch a few sublime fish. Other times, I can only perceive a faint glimmer. ”… Read more
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David Greenslade
“During lockdown I explored the idea of immobility — especially the sessile animal known as the sponge. I began to think of myself as a sessile being.” Read more
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Jeff Alessandrelli
“I attempted to investigate what doesn’t fit and why that unfitting is often more important than that that fits. The songs on the record that I like best are the ones that momentarily skip before righting themselves. But you remember the skip later.” — Jeff Alessandrelli Read more
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Hugh Behm-Steinberg
“One of the things that most frustrated me about living in B_________ was its absence of mammals. Except for people, their cats and dogs, and the bats that flitted around at sunset, I never saw a single squirrel, mouse, or wolf, anywhere. So I ordered five pairs of red breeding squirrels on Amazon using my… Read more
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Matthew Haigh
This week’s surreal-absurd sampler is Matthew Haigh. Poems that use the cut up technique and “centre around cult television shows with a warm, gay-icon slant (The Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote respectively). Utilising the internet movie database (IMDB).” Read more
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Chrissy Williams
Here is another installment of the surreal-absurd feature at Mercurius Magazine. The poet Chrissy Williams. From her just released book Low (Bloodaxe). Read more
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Vik Shirley
Enjoying curating the surreal-absurd feature in Mercurius magazine. So much interesting work out there. Here is a selection of poems from Vik Shirley. From her chapbook Corpses and her collection, The Continued Closure of the Blue Door. The surreal is alive and well! Check em out over here Read more
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Zachary Schomburg
I am editing a surreal-absurdist feature for Mercurius magazine. Every other Monday, I will feature an absurdist/surrealist writer to tickle your fancies. First up, we have Zachary Schomburg. A selection of prose poems from his book Fjords vol.2, forthcoming from Black Ocean in May 2021. Read the selection over here. Read more
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Gravity Bubbles
In the heat of the first wave of Lockdown, I participated in an collaboration with the poets Calliope Michail and Chris Gutkind. We decided to call it Gravity Bubbles to emphasize both the gravity of the situation (we were all feeling the heaviness of lockdown in the UK and Spain), and the power of art… Read more
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Han Shan
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… Read more
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Forgetful Numbers by Vasko Popa
A fairy tale for numbers by the poet Vasko Popa. Terrific nighttime reading. Read more
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BLACK HOLE
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.” Read more
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REVIEW OF THE GREEN MONK
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. Read more
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EXCHANGES: FOUR POEMS BY GRZEGORZ WROBLEWSKI
Kyoto. Spiders. Men in black coats. Minimalist existentialist prose poems by GRZEGORZ WROBLEWSKI (Painting by Janusz Tyrpak. Drawings by Grzegorz Wroblewski.) Read more
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Jitters
“A part wants to break away from the other part. The part that wants to break away claims a different culture. How many cultures make the whole. Who are the true people from the part that wants to break away and the true people from the part that believes in the whole.| My flash fiction,… Read more
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Everything is Connected
Danishness, homo-sapiens, improv jazz, interconnections, collaborations. Reminds me what matters!! Needed that. Investigative. Imaginative. Open. An interview with nomadic existentialist artist and writer Grzegorz Wroblewski https://www.dik.org.pl/everything-connected-interview-author-grzegorz-wroblewski/?lang=en Read more
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That Weird Guy
From Scenes from a Childhood by Jon Fosse. Translated by Damion Sparks. Fitzcarraldo Editions. Read more
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A RABBIT HAT ADVENTURE IN LONDON
Just before leaving London/Tower Hamlets to live in Madrid, I met up with my good friend and fellow artist Stephen Emmerson. We walked across Waterloo Bridge and wandered into a magic hat shop called The Mad Hatter. I ended up with a rabbit hat (thanks to Stephen). It is a special hat. I composed… Read more
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BEST OF POLISH POETRY IN TRANSLATION
Some awesome translations of Polish poet Grzegorz Wroblewski in Jacket 2. In conversation with perhaps the most powerful Polish poet of the 20th century. Tadeusz Różewicz. A special issue about Polish poetry after Rozewicz.http://jacket2.org/polish-poetry-after-rozewicz Wroblewski’s poems are translated by Piotr Gwiazda.http://jacket2.org/grzegorz-wroblewski-and-rozewiczThe five poems are over here:http://jacket2.org/poems/five-poems-wroblewski Read more
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ELEPHANCHE
Elephanche is a limited edition pamphlet of 12 poemplays written by Marcus Slease and SJ Fowler, and published by Department press in March 2013. It was launched at the Cornerhouse Gallery in Manchester. Cover collage by Tom Raworth. Check it out: www.stevenjfowler.com/elephanche Read more
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short poems by Ben Stainton
THEY ARE VERY GOOD. THEY SOMETIMES REMIND OF RICHARD BRAUTIGAN AND EVEN MORE MIKE TOPP. BUT THEY ARE NOT. THEY ARE BEN STAINTON PLUS WHO KNOWS WHAT. LOTS OF THINGS. THESE POEMS MAKE ME FEEL MORE FLUID. I LIKE FEELING FLUID. IT IS BETTER THAN FEELING SOLID. FLUIDS RULE. SOLIDS THINK THEY RULE. THEY DO… Read more
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ALEXANDER VVEDENSKY
A READING OF THE FABULOUS RUSSIAN ABSURDIST OBERIU POET ALEXANDER VVEDENSKY’S POEM “THE JOYFUL MAN FRANZ.” https://soundcloud.com/marcus-slease/the-joyful-man-franz-by-alexander-vvedensky “pussy riot are Vvedensky’s disciples and heirs. . His principle of bad rhythm is our own” — Pussy Riot (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova;s closing statement at their trial August 2012) Read more
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Zarina Zabrisky
RUSSIAN ABSURDISM MEETS RAW EROTICISM SEX POSITIVE PSYCHOANALYTIC FEMINISM ETC. ETC. ETC. ZARINA ZABRISKY ROCKS!!! Read more
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RUSSIAN AMERICAN ABSURDIST FLARF ROCKS
SAW EUGENE OSTASHEVSKY YESTERDAY AT SERPENTINE GALLERY IN LONDON. PIRATES AND PARROTS. BEST READING IN LONG TIME!! RUSSIAN/AMERICAN ABSURDISM!! TERRIFIC! Read more
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REVIEW OF KOPENHAGA IN THREE PERCENT
“What terrifies me in Denmark (the land of Bohr and Kierkegaard, a caring tolerate state, with a high standard of living, etc)? What terrifies me is homo sapiens. Also in Wilanów and other wholly innocent corners of the Earth. What terrifies me is homo sapiens.” (Grzegorz Wroblewski) Nice review of Grzegorz Wroblewski’s Kopenhaga in Three Percent (University… Read more
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Wiara by Grzegorz Wroblewski
Grzegorz Wroblewski and Amir (on guitar). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pk1Pr0AROI Read more
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Mike Topp and Grzegorz Wroblewski
A few more observations, haiku, extremely short stories, by Mike Topp who lives and works in a large, Eastern metropolis. Grzegorz Wroblewski’s Kopenhaga and Mike Topp’s poetry have quiet a lot in common. They are both from the Milky Way for one! I think their poetry would get along really well together!! http://www.scn.org/realpoetik/topp-mike-htm-99.htm Read more
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bruLION and Grzegorz Wroblewski
Grzegorz Wroblewki was part of the bruLion group. He is a punk rock poet. And a warm warm hearted human being too!!! Cracovian bruLion (noteBook) in the history of Polish literature of the end of the 20th made its name as one of the most important voices of the young generation. The group connected with… Read more
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Morten Sondergaard
we drift and dawdle and dart and Pit and Pounce and gallop and glide and jink and jog and lope and leap and march and meander and plod and prance and promenade and prowl and sashay and saunter and step and shamble and shuQe and stalk and stomp and stride and stroll and strut and… Read more
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The Stranger or, Is Being a Female Anathema to Being an Absurdist?
http://www.likestarlings.com/the-stranger-or-is-being-a-female-anathema-to-being-an-absurdist/ TERRIFIC!! JUST WHAT I NEEDED TO READ HERE IN EAST LONDON TODAY!! YES! DARCIE DENNIGAN ROCKS!!! Read more
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Loving the Polish: Grzegorz Wróblewski’s "Kopenhaga"
Nice review of Grzegorz Wroblewski’s Kopenhaga over here by Chad W. Post: http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=8022 Read more
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Nouns of Assemblage
Nouns of Assemblage from Housefire Books arrived in the post today and I am a very happy fella. Been reading it on the tube. I kind of gave up on fiction after finishing my BA in English. But here it is. Fresh for me again. All the best of kick ass poetry and fiction and… Read more
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Gabby gabby, Diana Salier, Tao Lin and cognitive behavioral therapy for all . .
Enjoying some of the poems and videos of Gabby Gabby. Just ordered her Airplane Food from NAP: http://naplitmag.com/store.html Reading Tao Lin’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as well. http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/ And Diana Salier’s Letters from Robots http://nightbombpress.com/ Both highly recommended. I am hoping Gabby Gabby’s Airplane Food will be fab fab as well. Liked what I read at… Read more
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my flash fiction "Białooka" now featured at Metazen
Do you know Białooka? A Polish fairy tale. With a nod to Camus. Come meet her over here at Metazen: http://www.metazen.ca/?p=11167 Read more
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The Unbearables . . . Mike Topp . . . etc.
The Unbearables are lightin my fire!! Mike Topp’s Shorts are Wrong is super super!! Still exploring Sharon Mesmer. Hm . . . thanks to Grzegorz Wroblewski over in Copenhagen for pointing me in their direction . . . http://virginformica.blogspot.com/ The Unbearables: http://www.unbearables.com/blog/ Read more
