Visual poetry with teeth: An Interview with James Knight of Steel Incisors

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Described by Astra Papachristodoulou as “one of the most exciting voices in visual poetry today”, James Knight is an experimental poet, artist, performer and the founding editor of Steel Incisors Press. I’ve long been an admirer of his work, so was delighted when James agreed to an interview with me. We discussed contemporary visual poetry, the projects he’s currently working on, and what the  future holds for Steel Incisors.

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The Seasons: Four Pascal’s Triangle Poems

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I have always been drawn to the visual poetry of mathematics: the crisp clean curves of conic sections; the graceful graphs associated with trigonometric functions; the meditative intricacies of the Mandelbrot Set; even the simple, elongated elegance of the integral sign. I still recall the thrill I experienced as a teenager when I was first introduced to the triangular array of numbers known as Pascal’s Triangle. Mathematically, the array has applications in algebra, combinatorics and probability theory, but it is also intriguing as an object in itself, on account of the many patterns embedded in its structure. 

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‘Everyone is invited’ – An Interview with Anthony Etherin of Penteract Press

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Readers of formal and constrained poetry will, like me, have been saddened by Penteract Press’s recent announcement that it will cease publishing new titles after 2024. As part of my on-going series of interviews with editors of small independent presses, I spoke to Penteract’s editor Anthony Etherin about the press, its ethos, and the reasons behind the decision to close. Anthony also shares two poems from his new collection The Robots of Babylon, which will be published on the 21st of October and is now available for pre-order. 

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Review: Jump Search by Lori Wike


Recently I’ve  been reading SuperInfinite, Katherine Rundell’s excellent biography of John Donne, and this in turn has led me to revisit Donne’s poetry. I recall vividly the thrill of discovery when I first read him as a teenager, delighting in his clever conceits and his command of metre, rhyme and form, as I sought to understand his meanings.

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Triangles

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Triangles, my new poetry collection, is now available to purchase directly from Penteract Press, who ship all over the world.

Billy Mills has generously written a review, which you can read here: https://ellipticalmovements.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/recent-reading-october-2023/

You can order a copy at this link: https://penteractpress.com/store/triangles

The Poetry and Mathematics of Crochet

There may be poets who can sit in front of their computer or notebook and spontaneously compose a poem, but I am not one of them. Generally, my poems have a long gestation. I tend to mull them over while doing other things: gardening, walking, cleaning the bathrooms. Crocheting.

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2022: End of year reflections

There has been a great deal of flustered fluttering on Twitter (now known as X) in recent weeks, as regular users have become concerned for the platform’s viability. Change is always tricky to deal with. Amid expressions of nervousness, uncertainty for the future, defiance, outrage etc, it’s also become clear how significant the micro-blogging site has been to the poetry community – as an online meeting place where we can form new friendships, discover new journals, explore unfamiliar poetic forms, become reacquainted with old favourites, market our own work and celebrate the work of others.

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The melodic and the logical – an interview with Anthony Etherin

The Golden Ratio, denoted by the Greek letter phi, is an irrational number that has intrigued mathematicians and artists through the centuries, featuring in geometry, number theory, physics, biology, painting, architecture, music and other disciplines. Its value to 20 digits is

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