New Writers Series: Colin James

Exploding Appendix is a project, which, through a myriad of media seeks to revitalise the avant-garde. With the aid of a plethora of artistic devises we seek to forge a vision for the future, uniting an experimental energy with a utopian yearning that pimples the skin with the potency of a renewed world. Yet, whatever grandiose ambitions may perturb our flesh and ignite a creative delirium, we, nonetheless, undertake the somewhat everyday task of artistic mutual exchange. Through our gatherings, our projects and general correspondences we engage in a process of sharing work, giving encouragement and offering feedback. Puncturing the solitary confines of artistic creation we have drawn sustenance from this process of interaction. Over the preceding months we have organised a number of projects and event which, from Manifesto Nights to Dadaist Cabarets, from ‘share and tell’ evenings to other forms of correspondences and collaborations, have garnered us with an eclectic collection of writings. With a humourless lack of imagination, let’s call this collection of writings our ‘New Writers Series’ — yes, let’s call it that! Throughout February we seek to celebrate the work of a selection of new writers, each, in some way, experimenting with literary form and innovative content. Yet, this collection of literary output holds together, not merely because of its artistic or technical innovation, but because it emerges, in some way or other, from the communal life of Exploding Appendix and the union of artists and researchers connected to it. Let February be the month of the writer, and let each word burst forth with unyielding vigour, drenching each page with the potency of literature eternal.

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COLIN JAMES: QUIT CROWDING ME, PILGRIM

My opponent was losing.
I had more than a hundred pounds on the guy
with my strength advantage
measured at a four to one ratio,
which I had calculated
using the Rensis Likert scale
while waiting for my Brazil salad
in that blustering bistro near Croydon Station.
Reading the Financial Times,
managing to ignore several kelp salesmen
& their self absorbed references
to tides and ocean temperatures.
Realistically, lunging is not in my skill set.
Sidestepping then attacking with a straight forward
elbow stomp usually meets the requirements
set forth in an afternoon brawl.
I used my extra weight
to crush the much smaller man
until his unstable frame crackled
upsetting several young ladies who
had gathered to watch me entertain.
Glances lost in my hairy shoulders
recovered later as theoretical needs.

* Colin James is currently retired. He has been writing poetry for almost fifty years but says that he ‘didn’t develop my own style until after thirty years’. He has a book of poems, Resisting Probability, available from Sagging Meniscus Press.