I was chatting to Malik Ameer Crumpler, who writes the forward for my first proper collection of poetry, about the difference between Vanity Publishing, and DIY.
You can hear it here.
https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/kirsty-allison-aim-awards-week-label-lodge-12082020/
Also on the Soho Radio show (framed around me recently being a judge for the Association of Independent Music Awards): Bad Seed, Sonic Youther, Grinderman, and collaborator with everyone from Lydia Lunch to Nicole Atkins, Mr Jim Sclavunos offers up a micro-Reith lecture on what Independence means Now.
And the pleasure of hearing Rob Doyle’s thoughts, who wrote my fave book this year, Threshold.
There are also a few words from Danielle De Picciotto, whom I’m very happy to announce, I’ll be supporting as artist/writer-in-residence (with Gil De Ray) at her forthcoming retrospective at the Neurotitan Gallery in Berlin. 12 Sept - 03 October.
[I’ve been looking at Berlin as a Promised Land, where Covid is managed with sense - a light on a very bleak horizon in the Brexit scam. The events we’re doing there are very limited. But we will be live-streaming, details to come.]
Yo - enough of other people! DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?
A BOOK?
YES - check it out - designed by the wonderful Personality Crisis.
What about your other book, Kirst?
What, the one I began writing before using poetry to break up the commercial styles I needed to break out of, as a former fashion copywriter, journalist, etc?
Yeah - the one you started talking about in the 90s, didn’t start drafting till about 2005, and have re-worked a zillion times. That one.
O ya - it’s called Psychomachia - Wrecking Ball Press tell me it’s coming next year now, after distribution falling to the grave - and the whole world having to re-gather itself.
AMAZING - cannot wait to read it.
Thanks.
So what’s this?
Well, darl - you know I find the pretentious repulsive. And I’ve always been pretty impressed by the people I’ve performed aside, and interviewed?
Really? You, self-conscious?
It’s weird the way I came out as poet on stage - playing, like no-one was watching.
I love your poetry.
Thanks. That’s really kind.
I pulled Now Is Now together to send as Thank Yous to paying supporters of this Substack blog/newsletter/whatever it is. Because it’s really been a positive thing of lockdown, feeling support beyond these walls. And poetry does that back.
Will you be sharing bits of it online?
Maybe on my Insta, FB, Twitter, ya. I know not everyone can afford, or wants to give me a fiver a month - or desires to support the compulsion of creativity to such extents- so you can also buy it on Cold Lips or the Kirsty Allison site for a tenner.
Stop talking to yourself, darl, in third person - subjunctive, detachment. What’s the poetry about?
It’s digital existentialism - it’s rock n roll. It’s private. It’s public. I hate talking about all of this - just read it - that’s the point of it.
Here’s what people have said.
“At risk of being accused of damning her with faint praise, I’d contend that Kirsty Allison is the greatest cultural beacon this planet has produced.” Irvine Welsh
“Kirsty Allison’s poetry traverses a haunted landscape where magic is entwined with the mundane, romance embraces horror, and the vulgar cavorts with the sublime. At the heart of this collection of vivid verbal panoplies, Allison’s perspicacious evocations radiate warmth, humour and a gentle but unwavering intelligence.” Jim Sclavunos, Bad Seed, musician and writer
“The modern Patti Smith” Johny Brown, The Band of Holy Joy, Bad Punk
“Bringing deep magic and profound emotional intelligence, linguistic mystic Kirsty Allison is a unique and charismatic force in the world of lit and beyond.” Zoë Howe, author, artist, music biographer
“Kirsty Allison’s poems are a one-woman cosmos of words and thoughts that form and refashion a fresh understanding of light” David Erdos, playwright, actor, International Times
“Confronting and visceral” Fad Magazine
“at the pulse of London’s literature and spoken word scene, she creates her own universe. A true inspiration” Danielle De Picciotto, multimedia artist and musician, Kaput Magazine
“Sexy and talented, what is not to like?” Murray Lachlan Young, poet-in-residence, 6Music
“Le Cool fave, Kirsty Allison” Le Cool
“A true light in this dark world” Nina Antonia, author
“Kirsty Allison is the most rock n roll poet living in London” Kelli Ali, singer and artist
“If you want to know what’s on the cutting edge of the zeitgeist, look no further” Hardeep Singh Kohli, broadcaster and chef
“Wordsmith wizardry” Adam J. Harmer, Fat White Family and Warmduscher
Get your pre-order now
I will be posting signed and numbered editions as soon as they return from the printers, in 10 days time
available from Cold Lips Press and Recordings