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Lochgilphead
A poem about friendship, nostalgia, and mental illness.
Poor Campbell was all skin and bone,
And living off a waning loan,
When at last I returned to Lochgilphead…
Lochgilphead is a narrative poem about two old friends: Campbell and the unnamed speaker, who reunite in the Scottish town of Lochilphead after ten years of separation. This poem was heavily inspired by several trips I took to Lochgilphead as a young, aspirational filmmaker.
Lochgilphead
A poem about friendship, nostalgia, and mental illness.
Poor Campbell was all skin and bone,
And living off a waning loan,
When at last I returned to Lochgilphead…
Lochgilphead is a narrative poem about two old friends: Campbell and the unnamed speaker, who reunite in the Scottish town of Lochilphead after ten years of separation. This poem was heavily inspired by several trips I took to Lochgilphead as a young, aspirational filmmaker.
Violence
A poem that explores the different ways that violence manifests.
I heard a loud bang.
I figured a shot would be
A little bit louder…
Violence began as a poem inspired by a statement made by a witness to a widely reported shooting of a public figure. From there, it evolved into a series of fragmented stanzas, each exploring the myriad of ways that violence can manifest in our daily lives. From deeply personal acts of cruelty to more abstract, class-based violence imposed by economic inequality.
Meetings
A poem satirising the bureaucratic managerial class.
We need to meet this afternoon
for a meeting following up on last week's meeting…
Everyone hates meetings. We’ve all had to sit through them, sometimes several times a day. Long, tedious meetings that, more often than not, result in an excuse to create more meetings. Yet, someone, somewhere seems to think that living like this is good for us. Meetings is a satirical poem that explores the life of a bureaucrat utterly obsessed by meetings, so much so that they even dominate his social life. Meetings is a tragicomic poem that mocks that tragicomic, deeply atomised world created by white collar work.
Meetings
A poem satirising the bureaucratic managerial class.
We need to meet this afternoon
for a meeting following up on last week's meeting…
Everyone hates meetings. We’ve all had to sit through them, sometimes several times a day. Long, tedious meetings that, more often than not, result in an excuse to create more meetings. Yet, someone, somewhere seems to think that living like this is good for us. Meetings is a satirical poem that explores the life of a bureaucrat utterly obsessed by meetings, so much so that they even dominate his social life. ‘Meetings’ is a tragicomic poem that mocks that tragicomic, deeply atomised world created by white collar work.
The Creeping Shade
A world thrown into tyranny…but one hope remains.
It’s back again, the creeping shade,
My constant companion in the damp.
Upon the wall, there is displayed
The old, cold landlord’s tight-fisted stamp…
The Creeping Shade was a poem heavily inspired by the flat I rented during my second year as a university student. This building was so overtaken by mould that, several times, my flatmates and I would have to fill buckets with water and bleach and wipe down the walls with paintbrushes. This was ultimately a futile endeavour. Each time, the mould returned with a vengeance. ‘The Creeping Shade,’ draws upon the dull, repetitive, and even nihilistic nature of labouring on a task that you know is completely pointless.
