Late
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James McDermott’s collections include ‘Father Myself’ and ‘Wild Life’, published by Nine Arches Press. James’s poems have been published in journals including Poetry Wales, The North, Magma, Butcher’s Dog and Fourteen Poems. He lectures in creative writing at UEA.
Our featured publication for March and April is Green Apple Red by James McDermott, published by Broken Sleep Books.
James McDermott’s Green Apple Red is a dazzling pamphlet which maps the speaker’s growth from shamed ‘unnatural’ adolescent into queer adult proud of their nature. These majestic poems look towards a queerness of nature encouraging the inosculation of the reader and McDermott’s written word.
“Clear yet complex poems which lovingly interrogate queer desire to find shame, intimacy and protest in equal measure – unearthing, ultimately, a resonant wisdom in the Norfolk landscape and natural world” Richard Scott
“Green Apple Red revels in entanglements and inosculations, queering the language of nature: ‘bears’ who ‘are worshipped in sub-cultures’; an apple-eater consuming ‘only Cox’s’. In sensuous poems of belonging and longing, James McDermott carves out space for queer bodies in landscapes. These poems invite us to be shameless and public, ‘out in the open’ amongst our fellow creatures: unique, ‘fizzing with want’ like a bee, but ‘just another animal’ too. At once ‘cricket ball small’ with ‘Shame’s Stone’, but gutsy with the ‘second brain’ of the intestines, there’s abundant clarity, humour and vulnerability here, for wandering queers (and non-queers) everywhere” Caleb Parkin
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The Weight
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Shame’s Stone
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My Queer Mind Goes For A Walk
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How Queer I Live On Norfolk Coast
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James’s poetry books include the spoken word collection Manatomy (Burning Eye Books; long-listed for Polari’s First Book Prize 2021) and the pamphlets Erased (Polari Press) and Green Apple Red (Broken Sleep Books). James’s second collection Wild Life will be published by Nine Arches Press in June 2023. James’s poems have been widely
published in magazines and journals including Poetry Wales, The Cardiff Review, Ink Sweat & Tears, Butcher’s Dog and Fourteen Poems. James’s plays published by Samuel French include Rubber Ring (Pleasance Islington/UK Tour) and Time and Tide (Park Theatre/UK Tour; Offie nominated for Best New Play 2020; long-listed for the Bruntwood,
Papatango and Verity Bargate Playwriting Prizes). James is also one of the writers on EastEnders, an Arvon Writing tutor and Lecturer in Scriptwriting at The University of East Anglia. Twitter – jamesliammcd, Instagram – jamesmcdermott1993
Copies of Green Apple Red are available to purchase from James’s website.
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Patient Board
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James McDermott’s poetry collection Manatomy, longlisted for Polari’s First Book Prize 2021, is published by Burning Eye and their pamphlet Erased is published by Polari Press. James’s pamphlet of queer nature poems is forthcoming with Broken Sleep Books. James’s poems have been published in various magazines including Poetry Wales, The Cardiff Review,Popshot Quarterly, Ink Sweat & Tears and Fourteen Poems.
Fight
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James McDermott’s poetry collection Manatomy, longlisted for Polari’s First Book Prize 2021, is published by Burning Eye and their pamphlet Erased is published by Polari Press. James’s pamphlet of queer nature poems is forthcoming with Broken Sleep Books. James’s poems have been published in various magazines including Poetry Wales, The Cardiff Review,Popshot Quarterly, Ink Sweat & Tears and Fourteen Poems.
Our featured publication for January and February is Erased by James McDermott, published by Polari Press.
“Erased deploys found and erasure poetry to answer back to decades of censorship and homophobia. Removing ‘not’ from Section 28 legislation makes it a riot of celebration; the pluralised UK national anthem, an invocation to ‘save the queens’. Through selecting and reversioning these texts, we see that ultimately, in the witty words of Pride placards, “love is/power/love wins” Caleb Parkin
“McDermott’s new pamphlet quivers with political tension and confirms him as a vital voice of queer British poetry. McDermott changes the narrative of homophobic documents, revisits their language and moulds it into a glittery powersong of wonder and unashamedly queer joy. ‘God save our gracious queens’ indeed” Serge ♆ Neptune
“Erased is a crystallised gem of a collection. Emotive, evocative, and ingenious. Using central conceit that keeps on delivering, James McDermott has uncovered something truly special, an iridescent revision of the canon and our received wisdoms” Rick Dove
“Erased is an act of reclamation and fabulous impudence. The whole pamphlet empowers and validates” Simon Maddrell
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NOTICE
after Al Parker Productions Gay Porn Video Intro Guidance
the following is being presented
as a visual fantasy
as a viable alternative
to actual sexual contact
some of the precautions
taken by the producers in
the preparation of this fantasy
have been visually omitted
for editorial considerations
this is intended for viewing
by a special and limited audience
namely adults who request and desire
material for their information
education and entertainment
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GENESIS 9: 12-13
after God
and god said this
is the sign of
the covenant
I am
making between me and you and
every living creature with you
a covenant
for all generations
to come
I have set my rainbow
in the clouds and
it will be the sign of
the covenant
between me and the earth
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LGBTQ PROTEST SLOGANS
after Pride protest slogans
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James McDermott’s spoken word collection ‘Manatomy’, published by Burning Eye, was longlisted for Polari’s First Book Prize 2021. James’s pamphlet ‘Erased’ is published by Polari Press. Their poems have been widely published in magazines including Poetry Wales, The Gay & Lesbian Review, The Cardiff Review, York Literary Review, Popshot Quarterly & Atrium. James was shortlisted for Outspoken’s Poetry Prize 2020 in the Performance Category and has been Commended in the Verve Poetry Competition, Winchester Poetry Prize & York Poetry Prize. As a playwright, their plays published by Samuel French include ‘Rubber Ring’ (Pleasance Islington) and ‘Time & Tide’ (Park Theatre). James is also a writer on EastEnders. Follow James on Twitter at jamesliammcd and on Instagram at jamesmcdermott1993. Visit their web site to read more about them and their work here: https://jamesmcdermottwriter.weebly.com
Signed copies of Erased are available to purchase from James McDermott’s website.
Stallion
trudging through norfolk… fields… I find
a lone horse… a bag… on its mouth
and I’m thirteen again
in the farmyard… of the school… changing… rooms
a tall… muscly …stallion
kicks me… to the floor… I land… on all fours
he forces my… head… into his… gym bag
to sniff… his salt… sweet… shorts
he snorts… stamps… brays… trots off
to the showers… I hear the slam
of locker doors and… picture prisons… but
it’s a gate… being closed
in this field… I walk on… thinking of that
animal… praying… he has been… put down
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James McDermott’s debut poetry collection Manatomy is published by Burning Eye. James’s poems have been published in various magazines including The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Cardiff Review, Popshot Quarterly, Ink Sweat and Tears, Spelt, Confluence, Bitchin’ Kitsch and Dawntreader. Twitter: jamesliammcd Order copies of Manatomy here: https://jamesmcdermott.bigcartel.com/product/manatomy-signed
atriumpoetry.com 