Marcus Slease
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BOAAT POETRY MAGAZINE
Do you like shiny? There is a nice shiny issue of BOAAT from BOAAT Press. I have a shiny poem in there. check it out: http://www.boaatpress.com/bathtub-25 Read more
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The Feast Day Is Fast Approaching
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… Read more
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Creative Impermanence Studio
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.… 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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THE REALITIES BY LOUIS ARAGON
Except from Paris Peasant, by Louis Aragon. A French surrealist classic. Pg.55-56. English translation by Simon Watson Taylor. Read more
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A MASK OF RUBBER BANDS
From book of stories in progress. This one is called “A Mask of Rubber Bands.” Read more
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From Altazor by Vicente Huidobro
A small sample from Vicente Huidobro’s Altazor. So much magic. It is easy to get lost in there. The best kind of traveling. (Painting: Miguel Hernadez. Music: Minor Victories. Reading: Marcus Slease) 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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Reading of Wild Man
Are you feeling wild. Beepers were wild, especially on studly belts, in the 1990s, in Southern Utah. Here is a studly poem. From my most recent book, The Green Monk (Boiler House Press). (image: Nancy Baker, ‘Wild Man’) Read more
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The Street of Lamps
In Madrid there is a street called the street of lamps. It is called the street of lamps because they sell many lamps. It is also a street with cold floor cafe with sawdust and old medieval style damp alleyways with flowerpots on the balconies. I sat there, in the cafe, after wandering the street… Read more
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A BEND IN THE RIVER
Another childhood micro story. From my novel manuscript The Autobiography of Don Whiskers. A micro tale of a six year old boy from Northern Ireland in London in the early 80’s. He is always unlatching the gate and singing songs in old English pubs along the river. He is a pub storyteller. Everyone loves his… Read more
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NOMADIC SURREALIST STORIES WITH MUSIC
https://nevermindthebeasts.bandcamp.com/album/never-mind-the-beasts Folk surrealism. Experimental electronic. Magical realism. Immigrant stories. Outsider art. A journey!! A collaboration between UK musician Stephen Emmerson and Madrid-based writer and performer Marcus Slease. Available over at Bandcamp: https://nevermindthebeasts.bandcamp.com/album/never-mind-the-beasts (album cover by outsider artist Grzegorz Wroblewski) Read more
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WHAT IS NAPLES?
The Grand Tour, back in the day, we based on John Dewey and experiential education, at least partially. It was also based on ideas of high culture, and the lack of it in England. Also class and privilege, since mostly it was some aristocratic females and of course upper class males. Get out of the… Read more
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IMPROV JAZZ WITH POETRY FROM THE BATHTUB
When Ewa and I first arrived in Madrid, Christian Pérez, his wife Megan, and their son Oscar welcomed us. Showed us around their neighbourhood of La Latina, lollies and neighbourhood festivals with sweet meats, up on their rooftop terrace, an introduction to mighty fine Spanish olives, wine, and cheese. And much much much more. They… Read more
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WHAT IS INFLUENCE?
Super happy to have my poem “Feedback” in Poetry magazine. It is part of my manuscript The Green Monk, forthcoming from Boiler House Press in November 2018. It was composed while ingesting everything written by the great Lydia Davis. I can’t help wondering if some of her approach to writing leaked in there, but also other… Read more
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MR WHISKERS WITHOUT THE PICNIC BASKET
The only award I ever won, and didn’t even enter, was for a poem called “Mr Whiskers and the Picnic Basket.” It was published in Hayden’s Ferry Review as a winner of the AWP Intro Journals Award. I was completing my MFA at UNC Greensboro at the time. Then it was republished at storySouth in 2004. This… Read more
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NOMADIC POETICS WITH MARCUS SLEASE AND GRZEGORZ WROBLEWSKI AT DESPERATE LITERATURE
A terrific launch last night of The Spirit of the Bathtub with Grzegorz Wroblewski reading from his latest work (in English) Zero Visibility (translated by Piotr Gwiazda). Super nice folks in the audience. Nice chats during and afterwards. We are not alone folks! Read more
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NEVER MIND THE BEASTS: A NEW WEBSITE
I just reached over half million visits on my blogger website Never Mind the Beasts. A mile stone maybe. Thank you so much for stopping by!! The blogger Never Mind the Beasts blog has now gone dark to avoid duplicate content. Never Mind the Beasts now has its own domain and a new site. This… Read more
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THE ELEPHANTS
The moon is sometimes bloated. There is so much. Just stop, slow down, take a look at your brain. It is very bloated. Put your thoughts in a balloon, maybe 99 red balloons, and pop them. Over and over. Here are some balloons. From my book The Green Monk, forthcoming from Boiler House Press on… Read more
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Play Yr Kardz Right Book Launch
Nice book launch last night. Lots of folks scattered around the bookshop. Great chats with fab folks afterwards. Thanks for coming! Thank you Desperate Literature and Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Gud Tymz! Read more
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DREW GARDNER
TERRIFIC POEMS BY DREW GARDNER OVER AT EMPTY MIRROR: http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/poems/poems-by-drew-gardner.html Read more
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Swimmer’s Club Seven Up
Seven of my current loves over at Swimmer’s Club. It is hard to choose seven. They are only seven. But maybe a good seven. There is the Czech nomadic surrealism of Lukas Tomin, the Canadian surrealism of Guy Maddin. Sun Araw, The Seventh Seal, Leonora Carrington, Chika Sagawa. So many greats. What a life! Check… Read more
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THE HOUSE OF ZABKA
Excerpt from my novel in progress The Autobiography of Don Whiskers A hybrid novel (in the form of an immigrant memoir, prose poetry, and interlocking surreal flash fictions). Some influences include Richard Brautigan, Miranda July, Lukas Tomin, David Lynch, Guy Maddin, and Leonora Carrington (plus more). This except is called THE HOUSE OF… Read more
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MUSHEE PIEZ & FRIED PINEAPPULZ
AN INTERVIEW WITH POET MARCUS SLEASE IN CELEBRATION OF HIS UPCOMING BOOK FROM DOSTOYEVSKY WANNABE OVER AT ENTROPY https://entropymag.org/mushee-piez-fried-pineappulz-an-interview-with-poet-marcus-slease/ Read more
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SWIMMER’S CLUB SNEAKY PEEK
Sneaky peek slash preview of some poems from Play Yr Kardz Right coming soon from the fabulous indie press Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Over at Swimmer’s Club: https://www.swimmersclub.co.uk/treadingwater/play_yr_kardz_right Read more
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THE HERMIT AND THE EMPEROR
From my novel The Autobiography of Don Whiskers. Finally hope to complete it after seven years by the end of this summer. Maybe. The novel is nomadic life writing plus a kind of surrealism and absurdism. A new kind of travel writing. Read more
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SLOW CULTURE
I answered some questions about Why I Write over at Slow Culture. A series that continues what George Orwell started over 80 years ago. A wee promo for my upcoming book Play Yr Kardz Right from Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Very shot minimalist answers about nomadic travel, surrealism, psychedelics etc. Trying to define yourself is like to… Read more
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DESPERATE LITERATURE READING MADRID
A wee performance at Desperate Literature Bookshop. Madrid. 14th April 2017. Read more
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UPCOMING PERFORMANCE AT DESPERATE LITERATURE BOOKSHOP IN MADRID
I am performing with London based poet Chris Gutkind at Desperate Literature bookshop in Madrid. April 14th. Tonight two poets (one local, one not) in a wham bam double thankya mam. Chris Gutkind mostly started out in Montreal and has lived in London for many years. He worked as a librarian in universities during most… Read more
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CONVERSATIONS WITH SOOTHSAYER BIRDS AND OTHERS . .
My Shamanistic mix track from conversations with soothsayer birds and others . . Read more
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SAINT PRIMAL
Currently finishing up my manuscript Never Mind the Beasts. Never Mind the Beasts is a book of saints with many settings, including: Lisbon, London, Milton Keynes, Hurricane, Portadown, Katowice, Faro, and Texas. It is a great mashup bursting with flavours, including: instructional essays, alien immigrant memoirs, erotic stories, vignettes, political fables, monologues, and travelogues. Never… Read more
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GOOGLE TRANSLATE
https://player.vimeo.com/video/195170235google translate from JJMars on Vimeo. Read more
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THE CAKES
It is a saint day in East Madrid. The narrator learns Go Fish and King Alfred and peasants and burning cakes. The barbarians are at the gate. They learn to live simply. A true story. Is it Buddhism? Maybe! from my manuscript in progress Play Yr Kardz Right. https://player.vimeo.com/video/187478828 THE CAKES from JJMars on Vimeo.… Read more
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TINY HOUSE
https://vimeo.com/186089921 The true story of a search for home and the attempt to alleviate or ameliorate a mostly musty existence with showers of flowers and living kind of close to nature but not with swans. https://player.vimeo.com/video/186089921Tiny House from JJMars on Vimeo. Read more
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POSTMAN PAT
POSTMAN PAT from my new book in progress: Alien Memory Machine (transmissions from Iberia) https://player.vimeo.com/video/185125441POSTMAN PAT from JJMars on Vimeo. Read more
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Monday 5th September 2016
My new phone is coming today. A motorola. Not elegant. Simple. But should get the job done. I mean, I should be able to use Tuenti app and make calls and texts (if needed). I hardly ever text or call, only Ewa, and Chris G in the past. Part hermit. I am not sure when… Read more
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GOODBYE LONDON
Final day in London. Last minute charity shop runs and bag weight reshufflings. Then chill in North London with Chris Gutkind. North London is where London began for me over 7 years ago. By noon tomorrow we will be residents of Madrid. Airb&b for a while while hunting for flat to rent. Have to start… Read more
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The Nighttime Economy
My short reading at Rich Mix, East London last night. Part of the Nightime Economy exhibition: https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/the-night-time-economy-exhibition-marcus-slease-1 A collaborative exhibition of photography and poetry exploring the often fractious energy and environment of Newport, Wales’ nightclubs and pubs. Conceived and created in close collaboration between photographer Kate Mercer and poet & artist SJ Fowler, this exhibition… Read more
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FAREWELL NOMADIC SURREALIST PERFORMANCE IN LONDON
Part of the reading from last night at Xing the Line. Poems and stories from ongoing manuscript The Green Monk. Influenced by Mormonism, Lydia Davis, Ivor Cutler, James Tate, and others. https://player.vimeo.com/video/171918072 Xing the Line Farewell Reading Part Two from JJMars on Vimeo. Read more
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XING THE LINE FAREWELL READING
I read at Xing the Line last night. My last reading before leaving to live in Madrid. On the eve of the big vote. Maybe I will not be gone long. Who knows. I hope I am still an EU citizen after today. Then again I have been meaning to change my passport for an… Read more
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REVIEW OF RIDES BY LAURA WETHERINGTON
The best review of my work ever. Such a generous and insightful review of Rides. Thank you Laura Wetherington. https://laurawetherington.com/2016/06/17/marcus-sleases-rides/ Read more
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SOUL SUCKING
DO YOU PREFER SUCKING A SOUL OR HAVING YOUR SOUL SUCKED . . . . https://player.vimeo.com/video/169079845GREAT EXPECTATIONS from JJMars on Vimeo. Read more
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from Rides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmm3xjknAc Blart Books. Available also via Amazon. Read more
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LIVES OF THE IRISH MIMIH
Saints/Mimih/Migration Compendium.Featuring art, poetry and prose by Marcus Slease, @TjaKm, Pascal O’Loughlin, Lucy Jane Hilton, Stuart Westerby, Irish Poetry Shop, Erkembode, Catherine Carncross, Geoffrey Buoys & Sian Williams.Edited by David Kelly-Mancaux.Translucent.Initial limited run of #22.Expected arrival. June 2016.ISBN: 978-0957349636 £7 INCLUDING POSTAGE http://erkembode.weebly.com/shop.html Read more
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TWO POEMS IN POTLUCK MAGAZINE
Two of my poems over at Potluck Magazine. Good journeys. http://www.potluckmag.com/may-2016/2016/5/5/two-poems Read more
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from Play Yr Kardz Right
Some hybrid fast fiction prose poems from immigrant and travel memoir: Play Yr Kardz Right. In new issue of magazine Past Simple 11: www.pastsimple.org/ps11.MSlease.html Read more
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PAST SIMPLE ELEVEN
Happy to have some new work from my poetry memoir Play Yr Kardz Right in the new Past Simple. Terrific issue with Native American poetry and innovative poetry from Arizona and the UK!!! http://www.pastsimple.org/ Read more
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RABBIT SOUP
Recorded a wee poem . . back in another lifetime in my hick days in Hurricane Utah . . first loves and sherbets and walt whitman and deserts and rabbits and cricks and first kiss no tongue .. . HERE IS THE RECORDING: https://soundcloud.com/jjmars/somewhere-in-time Read more
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KAKANIA SYMPOSIUM
Did a reading and short talk at Austrian Cultural Forum in London yesterday. The spirit of the Vienna Secessionists through Max Kurzweil’s paintings Woman in a Yellow Dress and Despair. Imagination and freedom!! The only war is the war against imagination. Also allowing for vulnerability in art. No real connection (in art or life) without… Read more
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MIXING THE ARTS
Flashback Friday to 2013 performance at Hardy Tree Gallery in London with sound artist Ben Morris. Great two weeks of performances and exhibitions, including the artist known as Erkembode. Mixing the arts is very good. Specialisation is boring. Visual art, sound art, language art. “Ben Morris & Marcus Slease realised the aberrant underbelly of the… Read more
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Marcus Slease and Tim Atkins
I am performing with Tim Atkins this Saturday. Tim Atkins is innovative British poetry at its very best. Scrap that. He is more than British innovative poetry. Buddhist dharma poetry. Camarade 61 – January Saturday 16th – 7pm – Free Entry – Apiary Studios: 460 Hackney Rd, E2 9EG http://www.theenemiesproject.com/camarade http://www.apiarystudios.org/2015/12/the-enemies-project-presents-camarade-61/ with: Lavinia Singer &… Read more
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THE WICKER MAN
The British have voted for more bombing. Minimalist drone shows, stick figures, military stations, hoof prints on the coffee table, skeleton trees, a manual for legs, and a warning note near the great mustard wheel pulled by a large horse. Elation is elevation via the visual cortex. Another flash fiction/wee story from book in progress.… Read more
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LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
My new vixen short short. It takes place in the heart room at a party and on the porch. Blood is a warning sign. The heart of a dummy cannot be destroyed.https://soundcloud.com/marcus-slease/let-the-right-one-in Read more
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AND NOW, THE END IS NEAR
COLLAGE ART BY BEN STAINTON IN MY WRITING ROOM. IT IS VERY GOOD!! Read more
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BEST BRITISH POETRY 2015
Have a poem in Best British Poetry 2015. Inspired by Alan Watts and the earth. It’s called “The Underground.” Originally published in Lighthouse magazine. Thanks Emily Berry. Read more
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BEAR PRESS MIMIH ZINE
Check out Handsewn Bear Press mimih-zines made for This Is Renaissance, October 2015, in Leeds, UK. The zine is £1.50 http://www.erkembode.com/shop.html Featuring mimih art & poetry from: Marcus SleaseLucy Jane Hilton@tJaKmErkembodePascal O’Loughlin Read more
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KEYHOLE MAGAZINE
A part of a Turkish travel memoir over at Keyhole Magazine. It’s from another lifetime ago. It’s part fiction part non fiction like everything. It’s partly about sexual freedom sexual repression and religion. It’s called NO ROOM IN THE INN. Check it out over here: http://www.keyholepress.com/fiction/no-room-in-the-inn-by-marcus-slease/ Read more
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MISTER MUSTARD
this poem takes place in canary woof. in the docklands of london. i live in the cheap seats but i can see canary woof. it is the new financial centre of London. it is from my manuscript currently being re-collaged and re-layered called ANUTHER KIND OF MISHYUN Read more
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SIN CITIES
https://player.vimeo.com/video/141842682 SIN CITIES from marcus slease on Vimeo. Read more
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FREE VERSE POETRY FAIR
Reading from my book Rides (Blart Books) with other fab Blart poets at the Free Verse Poetry Fair this weekend in London. The Evening DO! 6PM at The Square Pig and Pen. Excited to hit the book fair during the day. Especially Ugly Duckling. They got the goods! Read more
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POWDER KEG
How did Jesus Vikings get to America? Find out over here. Are dream guns really sexual? Find out over here. Why was the Viking hanging on a rubber tree? Find out over here. How did the first American Vikings become the Big Lebowski? Find out over here. And more . . http://www.powderkegmagazine.com/marcus-slease/ Read more
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BATHTUB 50 IN MACKINAC MAGAZINE
A short narrative poem about vibration therapy. It takes place in Katowice, Poland. The poem was published in the fab journal The Mackinac: themackinacmagazine.com/marcus-slease.html Read more
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BATHTUB POEMS IN THE MACKINAC POETRY MAGAZINE
http://www.themackinacmagazine.com/marcus-slease.html Some poems in super new issue of the Mackinac. Super happy to be in there. Two poems from Katowice, Poland and one from London, England. 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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THE POETRY ACROSS THE POND
Matthew Dickman in Tin House magazine on exciting times in contemporary British poetry: http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/25564/the-poetry-across-the-pond.html Read more
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No Surrender
Another excerpt from my recently completed novel Never Mind the Beasts. This time as a child in Portadown, N. Ireland at the height of the troubles. PTSD, the bomb, satanic rituals, graveyards, granny’s, lucid dreaming, witches. https://soundcloud.com/marcus-slease/no-surrender Read more
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Edible Ghosts
Terrific poem by Bobby Parker over at Morning Star. Gives me hope. Generally. And for British poetry. http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-da46-Bobby-Parker-Edible-Ghosts#.VcL8XOhVg2i Read more
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BUBBLE MAKER
https://vimeo.com/134944360 Homeless beach dwellers. Summer 2014. Almeria, Spain. Read more
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SUNSHINE SUPERMAN
WRITTEN IN GENOA. PART OF NEW MANUSCRIPT. CHECK IT OUT HERE: https://vimeo.com/134836919 Read more
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Mahu: an exhibition by SJ Fowler
Terrific exhibit and month of performances at Hardy Tree Gallery. Happy to be involved. Communities. Art. Poetry. Yes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=175&v=LAK8oXyN2_M Read more
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SPACESHIPS ISSUE 1
Collaborating (as JJ Mars) with the artist David Kelly-Mancaux (as Erkembode). Spaceships have landed in London, Katowice, Da Nang, Singapore, Leeds & Bologna. Words: JJ Mars, Visuals: ErkembodeDeadwood Press vs Bear Press. Here is issue 1: http://www.erkembode.com/blog/spaceships-1 Read more
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Mahu: celebrating Tom Raworth
Great night of readings in celebration of the work of Tom Raworth. For Mahu at Hardy Tree Gallery. London 9th June 2015. Thank you SJ Fowler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frW3NoBCBP0 Read more
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Mahu: celebrating Blart books – Marcus Slease
READING FROM RIDES (BLART BOOKS 2014) AT HARDY TREE GALLERY NEAR KINGS CROSS IN LONDON.RIDES WAS CUT UP SLASH WRITTEN ON TRAINS FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS ALL AROUND THE U.K.AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON IF YOU FANCYhttp://www.amazon.com/Rides-Marcus-Slease/dp/1291923381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433789534&sr=8-1&keywords=rides+marcus+slease Read more
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PLAYHOUSE64
Bathtub poems. Written in a bathtub in Katowice, Poland. Published at Playhouse64. Thank you Playhouse64. https://soundcloud.com/marcus-slease/bathtubs-for-playhouse64 http://www.playhouse64.co.uk/tagged/selectedwork/chrono Read more
Never Mind the Beasts 