A event on Friday 4th July. The event starts at 19:00.
Tottering State: Poetry for Unsteady Times.
Tottering State #7: Michael Marcinkowski, *Lives of the Saints* (Broken Sleep), Yĕ Yĕ, *South* (Clearing Books), and John Phillips, *Language Being Time* & *The Shape of Faith* (Shearsman).
On *Lives of the Saints*:
Lives of the Saints by Michael Marcinkowski explores poetry's power as it intersects with faith and governance, set against a backdrop of ecological ruin and dystopian futures. In a landscape that blends personal introspection with collective disquiet, Marcinkowski's poems interrogate labor, knowledge, and justice, engaging readers in reimagining societal norms through a transformative leap of faith. By reviving Hopkins' 'sprung rhythm' and melding baroque language with American vernacular, this collection balances between abstraction and concreteness, forming a discourse both resonant and challenging. This work speaks to those drawn to poetry’s political and moral edges, inviting reflections on humanity's tenuous connection to a fragile world.
*Read poems by Yĕ Yĕ*:
at The Hythe (https://www.the87press.co.uk/thehythe-open/digital-poetics-414-three-poems-by-y-y) and Pamenar Magazine (https://www.pamenarpress.com/post/three-poems-by-y%C4%95-y%C4%95). Yĕ Yĕ's translations of Jike Ayou are published in Modern Poetry in Translation (https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/poem/sound-of-a-jaw-harp-in-the-labelling-factory/). The Poetry Lab Shanghai 5th Anniversary issue (2024) is available now.
On John Phillips:
“Perhaps Phillips’ greatest accomplishment is how he cast out words that create a reality that, nonetheless, evoke that reality that existed pre-words. I am touching quite briefly on the many marvels within the book’s pages. I recommend you look for this book and inhabit it for yourself. You’ll come out of the experience more enlightened than before you began it.” —Eileen Tabios, on Shape of Faith
“Some poets live deep back, quietly, in far places, still. I love the poetry of my friend, John Phillips. He is a master of the compressed, cut lyric.” —Kent Johnson
Bios:
Michael Marcinkowski grew up in Detroit and lives in Bristol. Secretly, he edits *Poetry Theory Review*, but don't tell anyone.
Yĕ Yĕ currently lives in Stroud, England. She is the co-founder of Poetry Lab Shanghai, and has published two collections of bilingual poetry - The Other Side (Letter Records, 2019) and South (Clearing Books, 2022). Her words have been published by Oxford Poetry, Modern Poetry in Translation, the87press, Pamenar Press, PEN America, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, and others.
John Phillips was born in St. Ives, Cornwall and is the author of Language Being Time (Shearsman, 2024), Heretic (Longhouse, 2016), What Shape Sound (Skysill Press, 2011) and Language Is (Sardines Press, 2005), as well as a number of chapbooks. He now lives in Slovenia.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Tottering State #7: Michael Marcinkowski, *Lives of the Saints* (Broken Sleep), Yĕ Yĕ, *South* (Clearing Books), and John Phillips, *Language Being Time* & *The Shape of Faith* (Shearsman).
On *Lives of the Saints*:
Lives of the Saints by Michael Marcinkowski explores poetry's power as it intersects with faith and governance, set against a backdrop of ecological ruin and dystopian futures. In a landscape that blends personal introspection with collective disquiet, Marcinkowski's poems interrogate labor, knowledge, and justice, engaging readers in reimagining societal norms through a transformative leap of faith. By reviving Hopkins' 'sprung rhythm' and melding baroque language with American vernacular, this collection balances between abstraction and concreteness, forming a discourse both resonant and challenging. This work speaks to those drawn to poetry’s political and moral edges, inviting reflections on humanity's tenuous connection to a fragile world.
*Read poems by Yĕ Yĕ*:
at The Hythe (https://www.the87press.co.uk/thehythe-open/digital-poetics-414-three-poems-by-y-y) and Pamenar Magazine (https://www.pamenarpress.com/post/three-poems-by-y%C4%95-y%C4%95). Yĕ Yĕ's translations of Jike Ayou are published in Modern Poetry in Translation (https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/poem/sound-of-a-jaw-harp-in-the-labelling-factory/). The Poetry Lab Shanghai 5th Anniversary issue (2024) is available now.
On John Phillips:
“Perhaps Phillips’ greatest accomplishment is how he cast out words that create a reality that, nonetheless, evoke that reality that existed pre-words. I am touching quite briefly on the many marvels within the book’s pages. I recommend you look for this book and inhabit it for yourself. You’ll come out of the experience more enlightened than before you began it.” —Eileen Tabios, on Shape of Faith
“Some poets live deep back, quietly, in far places, still. I love the poetry of my friend, John Phillips. He is a master of the compressed, cut lyric.” —Kent Johnson
Bios:
Michael Marcinkowski grew up in Detroit and lives in Bristol. Secretly, he edits *Poetry Theory Review*, but don't tell anyone.
Yĕ Yĕ currently lives in Stroud, England. She is the co-founder of Poetry Lab Shanghai, and has published two collections of bilingual poetry - The Other Side (Letter Records, 2019) and South (Clearing Books, 2022). Her words have been published by Oxford Poetry, Modern Poetry in Translation, the87press, Pamenar Press, PEN America, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, and others.
John Phillips was born in St. Ives, Cornwall and is the author of Language Being Time (Shearsman, 2024), Heretic (Longhouse, 2016), What Shape Sound (Skysill Press, 2011) and Language Is (Sardines Press, 2005), as well as a number of chapbooks. He now lives in Slovenia.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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