Red Verse Press

Welcome to Red Verse Press! Whilst Red Verse is a Substack-based personal project, Red Verse Press is open to all; a space for entangled creative pursuits. This is a community page. Submissions open, always. • • • • • • • #redverse #redversepress #literarycommunity #creative #poetry #poetrycommunity #substack #substackwriter

In the ‘Inside Voice’ that went up on Substack yesterday, you will find two pieces from my journal this week; a dive into what realities these creative works reveal; and a gorgeously executed poem, ‘Continental Divide’ by B.A. Van Sise. The pieces from my journal aren’t necessarily ‘good’ or ‘complete’ (whatever that means), but that is not their purpose. Rather, they enable me to investigate some of what we can learn of ourselves through our writing. This week’s poem pick, ‘Continental Divide’, is the sort of poem that holds you from the first line to the last. And only on reading the last do you realise exactly what the poem is saying, outside what it is showing. The last three lines do some marvellous heavy lifting, cementing the poem in your heart long after you have finished reading.  I admire the structure of the poem for this reason. It gives so much throughout—bit by bit it offers moments of insight, sadness, surprise, even comedy. But it is the ending that reveals what each earlier moment has been working up to. I hope that you read it. I know I will be, again and again and again. • • • • • • • #poetry #substack #substackwriter #redversepress #insidevoice

Apologies for the delay, friends! After some technical difficulties on the Substack side of things, this week’s ’Inside Voice’ finally went live today! This week’s instalment is slightly shorter, admittedly a second attempt as the first has grown into a piece in its own right. I offer a few reflections post-Tokyo, discuss the cloud-like nature of beginnings and endings (not as distinct as they may seem), and a short poem from the plane journey home. Not much, but something. All the while, something. • • • • • • • #poetry #substack #substackwriter #redversepress #insidevoice

Last week’s ‘Inside Voice’ went live on Substack last Friday! I published it on my way out the door. I was heading to the farewell party of the Tokyo-based course I have been attending, and it has been a busy, bountiful, and beautiful couple of days since. In this instalment, I reflect a little on this course—being at the tail end of it—and on my voice as a writer. I ask myself: what it is that I am trying to say? What do I return to, again and again? I asked this last question in response to Takashi Katahira’s current exhibition at the Tabacco and Salt Museum. The exhibition, titled ‘A Journey of Salt: Standing Wherever the Salt of the Earth is Found’, reveals Katahira’s creative pursuit of, and dedication to, salt as it exists all over the world. In this piece, I asked myself what I am in pursuit of, in life as in my words. I ask you the same question now. What are you in pursuit of, my friend? • • • • • • • #poetry #substack #substackwriter #redversepress #insidevoice

Here you have it: the first official installation of ‘Inside Voice’ as a weekly newsletter! I mentioned briefly in last week’s post that I hoped to turn this series into a weekly newsletter of sorts. So, in the spirit of just doing the thing, I present to you the second ‘Inside Voice’ in a row. This week, I discuss some updates about life in Tokyo, and food as a source of nutrition, creativity, and connection with others. (The konbini sweet treat selection here is no joke!) I provide a poetic offering, too, from the mind of the great Japanese poet, Shuntarō Tanikawa. I’ve included the first part of the newsletter in this post, but the full piece is available to read for free on Substack. I hope you eat something lovely today. If you’re reading this, please comment a food moment that has brought you immense joy. Read more from the ‘Inside Voice’ archive at the link in bio. • • • • • • • #poetry #substack #substackwriter #redversepress #insidevoice

The first ‘Inside Voice’ for a while, here to greet you on what is a bright, mid-winter’s Saturday where I write to you from Tokyo. I hope January is providing rest and recovery for you all. It’s always struck me as odd that we attempt to reset our lives immediately following the busiest (and most expensive) time of year. January, for me, is a month of rest. If not physically, then a mental slowing down and a focussing on what is necessary for survival. Amongst pockets of joy, wherever I can find them. Early last year, I wrote about personal experiences of loss and Death. Now, one year on, there remains no shortage of loss and Death throughout the world. It’s difficult not to lose faith in humanity, but these are the times that we need it the most. Being here in Tokyo, I have met the most wonderful people. Politically-charged and determined, full of compassion for one another’s suffering and the suffering of the world. More on this to come… I wasn’t sure how to go about Substack this year; where to start and where to go. I’m hoping to get more of these ‘Inside Voice’ posts out into the world (potentially as a weekly newsletter style of post, but we’ll see). As has been the nature of Red Verse, I am committing only to what works intuitively. In this year, the Year of the Fire Horse, there are big things to come. I’m certain of it. Read more from ‘Inside Voice’ at the link in bio. • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity #insidevoice

‘The Way In: Offerings at the Altar of a Door Labelled Enter’ was written in two hours, in front of a live audience for Oddities: In-Situ (A Live Exhibit) hosted by @existingloudlyexhibit last month. Alongside nine other creatives, I produced and performed this piece live on the night.  We were all given the same brief, the word ‘sonder’, defined as ‘the realisation that each passer-by has a life as vivid and complex as your own.’ So, we wrote, sang, played, made, drew, painted, and performed pieces that exhibited our individual creative practices, fueled by this shared theme.  The piece I created is presented to you now in its original form; unedited and unchanged. Heavily inspired by a recent trip to Cyprus with one of my nearest and dearest friends @lparise_ and their family, and the book I was reading on the trip, ‘Hot Milk’ by Deborah Levy.  This piece feels like a piece of memory captured in such a way that ‘the past [...] feels nearer than the present’ (Levy). It holds such an incredible time still for a moment and shuffles it into five vignettes and a poem. L, this piece is as much yours as it is mine. I love you. To read more about the exhibit and my thoughts around the piece, head to Red Verse on Substack. • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity #existingloudly #oddities #liveexhibit

A slightly longer piece from me today! I went to Edinburgh last week and the visit prompted some musings about the world as something to capture, photography as an impulse, and the incessant desire to document our lives. The need for self-assurance of our own reality has found solace in this practice of self-surveillance. But where does all of this self-documentation lead us? At what point does it prevent us from experiencing the world through our bodies? And how do pigeons fit into all this? I’m not sure I reach conclusions on any of these questions. Except maybe the last one! But there’s something to be said for asking them, either way. • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity #hideoutcafe

Nearly one month after its publication, I present to you ‘Anticipation’ as found in Tongues of Stone: Issue One. ‘Anticipation’ was written after a dinner party hosted by a friend. It is, for me, a reminder of the moments when the company of strangers softly, and almost silently, morphs into the company of friends. A transformation I am in such appreciation of. This poem holds a special place, as it was one of several that I performed at my first official poetry gig. No launch event, no open mic, just my name on the nine person line-up for ‘Cosmic’, a night of poetry hosted by @jinksartsco back in May. Bringing poetry to life through spoken word is such a wondrous thing. As an act, words are twisted into the shape of the tongue of the person that wrote them. Poems invite new understandings and interpretations this way, and also new ways of writing. Performing spoken word has helped shape my poetic concern for sound. As a community, this creative space has introduced me to some of the most friendly, supportive, and talented people I know in this city. Many of whom I am now fortunate enough to call friends. To read and view the rest of the wonderful work published in Tongues of Stone: Issue One, message Rosie and Sophie @tonguesofstone • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity #foundwords #tonguesofstone #zine

A poem for your Saturday evening. Pulled right from all the weird and the wonderful offered by the suburbs on the last bus home. Several strange encounters were had on the particular night of writing, which seemed to have streamed in from the week prior and into the week since. A milky amalgamation of meaning, leaking and seeping through life and from it. The suburbs have always had a certain charge to me. One that I cannot quite capture, but that this poem worms its way towards, regardless.  And let it be known that I did not actually swallow a bug on the bus!  • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity

‘Found Words’ is a collection process: a deep excavation of the scraps left behind in journals and the infamous Notes app; on old pieces of paper and the folds of the mind. Thoughts and poems repurposed, lost and found. And held, finally. Post 002 is based around a soundwalk I attended with @sound_pals around Sefton Park, several weeks ago. Led by @saraw0lff we were each asked three things: first, to be silent; second, to listen; and third, to note what these first two processes illuminated for us. This post tracks the notes jotted down during this soundwalk, and additionally, features a poetic inquiry (of sorts) undertaken roughly a week later. A coming together of an otherwise neglected fold of paper and some quiet creative responses the words on this paper inspired. Read more of ‘Found Words’ at the link in bio. • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity #foundwords

The bones of ‘Deliverance’ were written on a balcony overlooking the South China Sea. Fleshed out on my return to the UK—after spending some much-needed time back home in Australia and travelling around Vietnam—the edit of this poem invited some very welcome reflections on my travels. Published on Substack, I follow the poem with an offering: a short article (of sorts), linking elements of the poem to the trip and reflect on editing and creativity in the process. To read more about these musings, head to the link in the bio. • • • • • • • #poetry #poet #originalpoetry #substack #substackwriter #literature #redversepress #poetrycommunity #creativecommunity