A note on : Babsing Babs and Cassette Literature

It was a brilliant event, the 62nd of Writers Kingston, celebrating Cassettes this past week. And a perfect place for me to launch my debut cassette https://sjfowler.bandcamp.com/album/babs-london-adventures-talk-poems and the culmination of my Babs performances. Everyone brought some brilliant work, poems, performances, spools and tape, and all can be seen here https://www.writerskingston.com/cassette/

My own performance, I made it up on the spot, obviously, but also wasn’t going to do anything but play the cassette until it all kicked off. It seemed to go well. Please have a watch.

A note on: Guillaume! at Whittington Press with Angie Butler and Pat Randle again

Another lovely few days in the legendary Whittington press with Pat Randle and Angie Butler, and coming this winter https://www.stevenjfowler.com/ppp/

A limited edition of 100, letterpress printed, original poetry sequence. The gallant errant crusading knight, and the world’s first troubadour, Guillaume IX of Poitiers visits his former comrade-in-arms Sir Richard de Croupes. In the ancient Cotswold village of Whittington, future home of the eponymous press, will Guillaume, fine dining, be able to resist the temptations of a beaked devil?

A distinctive, eccentric and playful work of literature, The Hyphen is a Dagger is a product of a unique ground-up collaborative project between printers and poets - Angie Butler, Pat Randle and SJ Fowler. Working in cahoots from scratch, this publication was made with its specific letterpress production as a constraint and guide. Using only wood-letter typefaces from the stores of the legendary Whittington press in the heart of the Cotswolds, and working to vocabularies available from the letters on hand, the poems were written by Fowler to be then edited, while being set, across a series of collaborative in press sessions over 2022 and 2023. The poems themselves relate to the the place of their making, centering around the real life crusader Sir Richard de Croupes, whose tomb adjoins the press in Whittington court. Guillaume, the hero of the story, was the first recorded troubadour. For print afficionados, the text is buffeted with labels of each typeface used, from the Delittle collection of 1888. This publication is a rare example of what is possible when contemporary writers and printers work together with simultaneous purpose.

Bab's London Adventures : Talk Poems

Digital download and a Limited edition cassette, fresh from 8ox publishing. 

sjfowler.bandcamp.com/album/babs-london-adventures-talk-poems 

"In your lucy locket, a series of encounters with London’s most loveable rogue, Babs the purple cat, whose improvised talk poems have become a staple of the UK’s avant garde poetry scene. Recorded at public performances, film shoots and specifically for this release, and featuring found sound recordings around the capital, Babs takes on what is possible for’ the improvised poem and for the poet as a character."

For more on Babs, and Babs' performances, visit www.stevenjfowler.com/babs

A note on : Wildhart Radio, with Sian Thomas

I was recently on Sian Thomas’ radio show the poetry bath. The show was broadcast here: https://wildhartradio.com on Friday 17th of Feb 2023, then on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday at six for two weeks.

After that it'll hop over to Sian’s presenter's page: https://wildhartradio.com/sian-thomas-the-poetry-bath/ where it should be available for all eternity. 

We talked poetry, time travel, not reading one’s poems and loads of stuff, and I got to pick a favourite song. I chose Ween’s Chocolate Town, after much angst.

A note on : MUEUM reviewed in LA Review

A good review, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/hell-is-the-british-museum-on-s-j-fowlers-mueum/

Hell Is the British Museum: On S. J. Fowler’s “Mueum” January 27, 2023 • By Guy Stevenson

A note on : Collaborating with Benedict Taylor for Poem Brut at Hundred Years Gallery

https://www.poembrut.com/2023

Sunday afternoon wonders at Hundred Years Gallery with ten performances. It was such a lovely vibe, thanks to our hosts Montse and Graham, and loads of new folk amongst the old friends.

For my part I got to do another pure improvised piece with Benedict Taylor, with our duo The Onions Boys going strong strong for our fourth performance in the last six month. We have a rhythm, weaving, finding a way towards each other, between talk poem and viola. He’s an amazing person to work with and witness

A note on : Live at the National Gallery

https://www.stevenjfowler.com/nationalgallery/ The National Gallery : poems on paintings

Three National Gallery commissions in 2023. I'm writing new poems on paintings of choice as well as interacting and improvising with gallery guides, during three Friday night lates events. Those events I also have a chance to curate, inviting other poets and students of mine from Kingston University. “"For centuries, the artforms of painting and poetry have been in dialogue with each other, with each informing the other, or attempting to translate what makes them unique as their own media into another. In this unique event and across future Friday Lates, poet and performer SJ Fowler will read new ekphrastic poems about chosen paintings in our collection, offering alternative interpretations of their meaning, history and standing.”

An unexpectedly enormous turnout for myself and poets Kayona Daley, Cameron Wade and Tom Jenks, alongside educator and guide Katy Tarbard all curated by Joseph Kendra. This was a very memorable event, relaxed, literary, fun. The poems were serious, engaging, resonant, but the atmosphere was more febrile, playful. But it stayed close, despite the big crowd in small spaces with unamplified voices. Katy, Kayona, Cameron, Tom, Joseph are such decent, warm people, to match their talent, the whole thing was so enjoyable for me. A special start to 2023 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/talks-and-conversations-friday-lates-tour-and-poetry-readings-writers-kingston-20-01-2023

Published : Hungarian translations by Deres and Zavada

Kornelia Deres and Peter Zavada have done a grand job translating the works of myself, Colin Herd, David Spittle and more for the latest issue of the Hungarian online literary journal 1749

here’s one https://1749.hu/szepirodalom/vers/steven-j-fowler-same-mas-neven-a-s-adenosyl-methionin-roviditese-mas-neven-a-szuleidnel-foghato-a-sky-tv-a-vasarlasi-csatornaval.html

and another https://1749.hu/szepirodalom/vers/steven-j-fowler-carisoprodol-mas-neven-idezetek-a-sirkovemre-mas-neven-itt-nincs-helye-erzelmeknek.html

one is from the great apes and one is from i will show you the mind on prescription drugs, i think. im very happy to be in Hungarian and to be translated by two of the best poets in Europe, for real.

A note on : Dance Poetry at Writers Kingston

https://www.writerskingston.com/dancepoetry/

The 60th Writers Kingston was a first exploration of something I have been investigating and thinking about for awhile, poetry and dance. Thanks to Scott Thurston, Daniela Perazzo and some others, giving me some reading and putting me on paths, I’ve begun to think about what movement means in my performances and how I might learn from dancers, of the contemporary experimental kind. This event was a chance for me to learn, and brought together 5 pairs of poets and dancers. The videos on the link are really worth a watch

“Whether as a separate, interactive practise from two artists and arts, or as a synthesised fusion of language and movement by two performers simultaneously, these two creative fields, sitting so far apart in their mode, have enormous potential together.”

A note on : Kamen's Lens in Penn Today

I’ve so enjoyed working with the brilliant artist Rebecca Kamen for many years now, often taking her writing and winding it into found poems. Recently her work was profiled on Penn Today, and really captures her recent and general output and it’s remarkable complexity, and I was fortunate to get a small mention, clipped below. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/through-lens-digital-depiction-dyslexia

A small tour of Japan

An amazing experience for me! Visiting Japan, hosting Japanese poets, a couple of small tours, nearly ten collaborations, many adventures had and friends made. Below are videos of my performances in Japan, during January 2023, as well as a travelogue, and photographs. Here can be found all the info and documentation www.stevenjfowler.com/japan

Five collaborative performances in Japan, January 2023 - Please have a watch

Fukuda pero at BUOY in Tokyo : We worked to the abandoned Onsen we happened to be in, with nothing planned but a vague concept of spiritual healing. Pero and I grew into this, from our first collaboration in London, and his reiki was a grand touch.

Kyoko Yoshida at the temple in Kyoto : Based on the concept that I was a Tengu, a mountain goblin spirit, and I hid behind the shrine before the event in order to emerge after Kyoko’s prayers. She was so good at improvising this one out, and the audience was quietly confused while being supportively receptive.

Miya and Yoshi Hogyaku at Whiz Cafe in Tokyo : Having met the wonderful Miya and Yoshi the day before, and their being very experienced improvisers, in music and poetry, we had no plan at all. I asked them just before we went on if it was okay if we walked around. That was it, apart from the fact some of the things I said were things said during our first meeting lunch.

Corey Wakeling at Whiz Cafe in Tokyo : As you can see from the footage, Corey asks me to collaborate with him as I’m sat there filming him, with no notice, and I also didn’t quite understand what he whispered to me as I stood up. All the better

Bajan Fujisawa at the temple in Kyoto : During the intermission of the event Bajan asked me, through Pero translating, if I’d improvise some talking as he played the tabla. I said yes. And watching him open, I felt a responsibility to be sincere.





A note on : Japan travelogue

Got in January 4th after leaving January 3rd. Always strange how it isn’t generally a given that long flying is a kind of fear, a closure, a brief reminder, as you leave all you have behind, that it’s not far off disappearing. More than stress it seems to me a little death peep.

My bodyclock is switched, I’ve stayed up, so I’m out before 5am. I watch the sun rise over Ueno park. I walk from Nezu through Uneo to Tsukiji fish market, as I see it on the map. I have done so much research before this trip, the first long haul away since the lockdowns for me. I have unlimited sim, and can audio message and phone, it keeps me one foot in home. I walk through Chiyoda and around the Imperial palace, around the moat, past the British embassy. The fish market is touristy, and I walk on towards Shibuya. These are long city distances but normal for me. I have the sensation of being pushed and then being left alone. I like it a lot. I am in my own small world. Everything is new and exciting, but also I’m not overawed, there is servility everywhere. I accidentally walk to the Tokyo tower, and up through Roppongi, and cross the grave of Hachiko the dog, and into the Shibuya crossing, and then up to Harajuku. I see Colin, my collaborative poet partner here, Herd for dinner in a chain restaurant.

Another day follows up at dawn, again in Ueno park. It’s still dark when I come across the temple. I’ve not done any research on things, on places, just on how the systems work. So I have never heard of this place, or any of these places, really, so I can stumble on them. A monk is asleep in a shop window? He wakes up and buy some pouches from him. I walk to Asakasa, see another temple, talk to anyone who’ll talk back. Go to Ueno zoo, won’t queue for pandas. For some reason my right eye leaks and I can’t close it without feeling something inside it. Again dinner with Colin. The amount of salt in the food makes my face red.

Saturday January 7th, the day of the first event, the Tokyo Camarade, twenty poets. I walk the Kanda river to Ikebukuro as the sun comes up, again. Colin and I train muay thai on pads in a park. I kick Colin’s elbow and my shin swells up to match my eye. It seems to suit Tokyo, and balance my body and its clock. We head out to kitasenjyu, to the venue, BUOY. It was an onsen for the 1960’s Olympics, then disused for decades, now resurrected into an avant garde theatre. I see Lola Nieto and Silje Ree, two European friends who happen to be living in Japan at this very time. I see Yasehiro Yatsumoto, unexpectedly – he has been invited Pero Fukuda without me knowing. I saw him last at a festival in Tbilisi, Georgia, years ago. It’s a small world. The event is packed, in a basement, haunted, with over 100 in the audience and ten performances. Pero and I first. Improvised spiritual health. I dance over the onsen and Pero gives me reiki. We open up the fun in the event, allow people to push a bit, mess. Lola and Yasehiro are incredible. Many are. It’s an epic three hours. Colin and I try to walk back to our flats, it’s over eight miles, at night.

Sunday January 8th, I am walking myself into the floor with my big leg and fat eye. We then take the bullet train to Kyoto, all four of us poet curators, Pero, Colin myself and Kyoko Yoshida. Kyoko and Pero live in Kyoto. Getting in, I’m staying in an Airbnb in a Reiki school, so I book a session, not really knowing what it is. Colin and I walk the market, have such grand fun, but again, we are both removed and alien and happy and common and unusual and unremarkable. So much is barriered because the visitors tap at Japanese culture? Because cult culture is not cult here? Because people are private. I notice what London is. Kyoto is so vivid.

Monday 9th, dawn this time climbing the hills around Kyoto, up to the head of Mount Inari, through hundreds of red gates. Drink from the fountain of while it’s still murky dark. All walk. Our Kyoto event, at the temple! Unbelievable. It’s like night time to me. Izumi Ukai is our host, a buddhist monk who later spits fire. Everyone is so supportive and kind. I hide behind the temple before the events begins so I can emerge my collaboration with Kyoko. I do so, and I am a tengu, a mountain goblin spirit. The event is one of the best I have ever done. Mad amounts of mad, and so much in each, and in a temple. We have a big feed afterward, again in the temple.

The following days in Kyoko, I do reiki, I climb a mountain and see some monkeys, I walk the bamboo forest, I drop my wallet and find it an hour later, I do my best to see all I can see and walk everywhere, and I have done this so much, it’s starting to invert me a touch. Colin and I return to Tokyo and he’s going but I’m staying for one last gig. We do Muay Thai together, a few times, in the hotel. We go and watch sumo! I see the dawn come up so bright over a breakfast buffet. We both are disturbed by akihabara. It isn’t the same after Colin goes.

Last days are more alone, and that is okay. I meet my friend Benedict Taylor’s friends Miya and Yoshi Hogyaku and I can’t believe how hospitable they are, cooking for me and showing me around small things and giant buddhas. I explore shinjuku and shibuya having moved to my seventh accommodation. I like it less than Ueno, especially the bits I’m supposed to see. I’m getting a bit inevitably ill.

The final gig is in a metro hotel and very corporate and it’s a bit confused whether I’m welcome. But it works out so so well, and thanks to Corey Wakeling, an ex pat local poet who goes far out of his way, and Silje Ree, a friend from London who has just moved, and Miya and Yoshi again, who work with me, and we flute and walk into a lobby while performing. It ends really high, really one of the highest.

I have time after this but I am alone and so careful and prepared but I can’t believe nothing has gone wrong and it’ll take me time to process how good.

Published : That Poetry Thing interview

really kind of yessica klein to feature me, and of alexander kell to take these snaps of me in my studio https://thatpoetrything.substack.com/p/16-steven-j-fowler-poet-writer-and

Published : Herri - asemic writing and vispo feature

Herri, founded and edited by Aryan Kaganof, is consistently one of the most complex, best designed and interesting online journals in the world. I read the issues with great attention, as they emerge from South Africa. I mean seriously, just leaf through this

https://herri.org.za/8/

I am very pleased then to have the latest issue feature a feature on my asemic writing and visual poetry.

https://herri.org.za/8/steven-j-fowler/

  • In my feature there are two brand new collaborations with Mikael Buck, him using AI.

  • Then 4 works from Unfinished Memmoirs of a Hypocrit, my visual book

  • Then 1 work from I fear my best work behind me, my art poem book

  • Then 4 works from my Selected Scribbling and Scrawling, my selected asemics

  • Then essays from that same book, from David Spittle, and an interview between myself and Tom Jenks https://herri.org.za/8/steven-j-fowler/#text1

The design of this feature, and the whole enterprise, is remarkable, and to connect with Aryan and his colleagues is uplifting.

Published : Gorse, 11, a collaboration with Rike Scheffler

http://gorse.ie/book/no-11/

Gorse is one of the most remarkable literary journals in the world, in print, and recently dormant, and now back in the world, and I’m very lucky to have a collaborative piece, with Rike Scheffler in the 11th edition, just out, miraculous

here is a piece by christodoulos makris on the journal’s release http://yesbutisitpoetry.blogspot.com/2023/01/gorse-no-11.html

gorse No. 11 has been produced as a tête-bêche (meaning 'head-to-tail', where a publication is printed in two halves, upside down and back-to-back, so you can read one half then flip it over to start reading the other) and which reflects the issue's guiding concept of 'Borders', with a North/South (Whins/Furze) editorial structure.

Published : Congo - poems on the film

Deeply pleased to start 2023 with an online publication of some of my favourite poems from my poems on films collection from 2021, Come and See the Songs of Strange Days. Congo is a terribly wonderful film that I watched a lot as a child and these poems are peak level weird. I like also how the journal, entitled SYNCHRONISED CHAOS, has listed me as a photographer. Yes yes

https://synchchaos.com/photography-from-s-j-fowler/

Some of my best photo poems? My best photoshop poems

Gigs in Japan in January

If you happen to be in Tokyo on January 7th https://express.adobe.com/page/5A9iHji3GpHkU/

or Kyoto on January 9th https://express.adobe.com/page/wo05oAojFRvea/

Please come to the first ever Camarade’s in Japan! Should be an extraordinary few nights of poetry and collaboration, with Japanese and Gaijin poets presenting new works.

I am happy to be doing more gigs in Japan too, a tour of sorts, and to be working with Fukuda Pero, Colin Herd and Kyoko Yoshida once again. More soon on this.

The Pilgrimage of Watts

A new poetry film. One that documents a walk led by Stephen Watts, a great poet and person, across East London, earlier in 2022. It is another short film in the London I series I have been doing over the last few years, leading to a full feature in the next few years. It features an appearance by Babs too.