Pylon
Pylon is a zine of: poetry, short stories, essays and art that I wrote during 2010. Taking the punk diy ethic as the format, Pylon is completely hand produced on my little Epson ink jet printer and hand sewn. It has limited to a print run of 257 copies in a wide range of colours.
Index:
Intro – an essay about what Pylon is all about
New Tattoo – a performance poem I’ve read out at various events in and around Bristol
A Week at The Top – a fast paced short story about the abuse of the pop music business
In Praise of Running – an essay on why I run
Scavengers – a poem about discarded bicycles
Family Friendly – an essay about the changing face of music festivals
Literary Lout – another performance poem I’ve read out in Bristol
Self Portrait Number 32 – art in the abstract expressionist form
The Invasion – a poem about my pumpkin plant!
From Gravity to Gold – a short story about travelling to Glastonbury Festival
Cold – short poem about having a cold
Last Night – a haiku written after another lost night
White Christmas – flash fiction
Outro – a poem about where my life was, where it is, and where it is going
The above pieces are also interspaced with snippets of word art.
Currently available for £3 from Bloom and Curl on Colston Street
The New Old
The New Old is the second zine I’ve produced after Pylon in 2010. A lot has changed since then, not just in my writing, but also in my life. Most of this collection comes from that period. For most of that period I have been writing my novel The Ultimate Career Move. More about that later. That is a big project, the contents of this zine are smaller, but as important and still worthy of preserving.
The concept of The New Old is the passing of time. What once seemed fresh and cool now looks tired and ugly. This is particularly noticeable in architecture. The building on the cover (The New Old Part I) once stood in the Broomhill Industrial estate in East Bristol. As of October 2013 it has been replaced with a newer warehouse. The empty building on page 18 on Bath Road will probably go the same way soon. That on Moravian Road on page 23 is still in use, but for how much longer.
Most of this zine is complete fiction, however the two pieces of “anti-travel writing” How I Didn’t Break America and Calgary Fail are fiction based on fact – artistic license for the sake of entertainment. Untitled (2012) and Fringing Part I are completely fictional, and were written for events hosted by Bristol Writers Group as part of the Bristol Festival of Literature. The latter is set around Feeder Road in Bristol (a constant inspiration) and full of maybes and lost dreams. This could also be said for the poem Piss Head, set around the same area and about an addiction most of us know only too well.
Sold Out examines the pop idols we admired as teenagers. At the time they seemed capable of changing the world, yet now are as corrupt and egotistical as everyone else. Other poems deal with the disillusionment of politics; My Mate Dave, and the frustration of modern technology in Seek Assistance – which will its self become The New Old one day. When my grandfather on my father’s side passed away in 2011 I was asked to write a poem for his funeral, The Last of The Great Eccentrics is that poem.
Although this zine is “fresh off the press” it will age. The ideas in it are finite and at some point I will look at them and think, “did I really write that rubbish”.
Gavin Watkins March 2014
Contents:
The New Old Part I - photography
Introduction
Sold Out - poetry
Some Things - poetry
How I Didn’t Break America - anti-travel short story/essay
Intervening Stage - poetry
My Mate Dave - poetry
Calgary Fail - anti-travel short story/essay
The Witching Hour - poetry
Last of The Great Eccentrics - poetry
The River - poetry
The New Old Part II - photography
Untitled (2012) - short story
Rubber Band - poetry
The New Old Part III - photography
Piss Head - poetry
Seak Assistance - poetry
Fringing Part I - short story
Outro – Work in Progress Part II - poetry
The Ultimate Career Move - advert
The above pieces are also interspaced with snippets of word art.
Currently available for £3 from me
Index:
Intro – an essay about what Pylon is all about
New Tattoo – a performance poem I’ve read out at various events in and around Bristol
A Week at The Top – a fast paced short story about the abuse of the pop music business
In Praise of Running – an essay on why I run
Scavengers – a poem about discarded bicycles
Family Friendly – an essay about the changing face of music festivals
Literary Lout – another performance poem I’ve read out in Bristol
Self Portrait Number 32 – art in the abstract expressionist form
The Invasion – a poem about my pumpkin plant!
From Gravity to Gold – a short story about travelling to Glastonbury Festival
Cold – short poem about having a cold
Last Night – a haiku written after another lost night
White Christmas – flash fiction
Outro – a poem about where my life was, where it is, and where it is going
The above pieces are also interspaced with snippets of word art.
Currently available for £3 from Bloom and Curl on Colston Street
The New Old
The New Old is the second zine I’ve produced after Pylon in 2010. A lot has changed since then, not just in my writing, but also in my life. Most of this collection comes from that period. For most of that period I have been writing my novel The Ultimate Career Move. More about that later. That is a big project, the contents of this zine are smaller, but as important and still worthy of preserving.
The concept of The New Old is the passing of time. What once seemed fresh and cool now looks tired and ugly. This is particularly noticeable in architecture. The building on the cover (The New Old Part I) once stood in the Broomhill Industrial estate in East Bristol. As of October 2013 it has been replaced with a newer warehouse. The empty building on page 18 on Bath Road will probably go the same way soon. That on Moravian Road on page 23 is still in use, but for how much longer.
Most of this zine is complete fiction, however the two pieces of “anti-travel writing” How I Didn’t Break America and Calgary Fail are fiction based on fact – artistic license for the sake of entertainment. Untitled (2012) and Fringing Part I are completely fictional, and were written for events hosted by Bristol Writers Group as part of the Bristol Festival of Literature. The latter is set around Feeder Road in Bristol (a constant inspiration) and full of maybes and lost dreams. This could also be said for the poem Piss Head, set around the same area and about an addiction most of us know only too well.
Sold Out examines the pop idols we admired as teenagers. At the time they seemed capable of changing the world, yet now are as corrupt and egotistical as everyone else. Other poems deal with the disillusionment of politics; My Mate Dave, and the frustration of modern technology in Seek Assistance – which will its self become The New Old one day. When my grandfather on my father’s side passed away in 2011 I was asked to write a poem for his funeral, The Last of The Great Eccentrics is that poem.
Although this zine is “fresh off the press” it will age. The ideas in it are finite and at some point I will look at them and think, “did I really write that rubbish”.
Gavin Watkins March 2014
Contents:
The New Old Part I - photography
Introduction
Sold Out - poetry
Some Things - poetry
How I Didn’t Break America - anti-travel short story/essay
Intervening Stage - poetry
My Mate Dave - poetry
Calgary Fail - anti-travel short story/essay
The Witching Hour - poetry
Last of The Great Eccentrics - poetry
The River - poetry
The New Old Part II - photography
Untitled (2012) - short story
Rubber Band - poetry
The New Old Part III - photography
Piss Head - poetry
Seak Assistance - poetry
Fringing Part I - short story
Outro – Work in Progress Part II - poetry
The Ultimate Career Move - advert
The above pieces are also interspaced with snippets of word art.
Currently available for £3 from me
