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.