IMMINENT Issue 10 - blue moon

IMMINENT Issue 10 arrives with the autumn dark and clear, cold skies, bright moons and longer nights, as the temperatures begin to fall.

Issue 10 is called blue moon - a blue moon being the name for an unusual event, and indeed the next blue moon will not be seen until 31st May 2026. This will be a monthly blue moon, meaning that it will be the second full moon falling within that month.

The other monthly full moons all have their own names, and the particularly bright supermoons that we have had in recent months inspired me to make this issue. We contemplate why the moons have their names, why we feel we have to name things, and the limitations of words to understand the full nature of nature's universe around us.

Artwork by Carole Miles appears throughout the issue, created using handmade cuts and prints that are then digitally manipulated and transformed once again by me as they translate into the zine riso print medium. I love this kind of collaborative creation that the zine allows me. Carole's images draw connections between the moon's phases and the hands that tend the gardens, Carole being both an artist and a keen gardener. Mark Goodwin's poems connect our ways of knowing through fingertips and the senses, and Anna Reckin's poem considers the ways that we use words to describe and name the Blue Bell. Kate Silkosi's autumn's edge is a visual poem which questions the use of words at all.

As I write this, on the 16th November, last night was a final supermoon for the year. I have had some astonishing encounters with supermoons this year, managing to find places away from artificial city lights and experience those clear, dark skies. This issue will be my reminder of that year.

Kate Siklosi is a writer in Canada, published in IMMINENT for the first time. Kate has a book of poems, Selvage, which you can find here. As Johanna Drucker describes it, "In Selvage, Siklosi invokes motifs of leaves, stitches, and botanical growth to demonstrate the fecundity of communicative networks."

I had the privilege of working on some of the layouts for Mark Goodwin's recent book, At, now available from Shearsman books. Placement of words on the page are significant in Mark's work, and the process of creating the layouts for some of the poems is an exercise in discovery, as words overlap or juxtapose in different ways, all part of the creation of the poem.

Issues of IMMINENT Issue 10 are now available online from my shop. Thank you for supporting writers and artists to continue to make this zine for the last 5 years.

GroundWork

GroundWork Gallery, King's Lynn

I'm delighted that IMMINENT zine can now be found in the shop of the GroundWork Gallery in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Customs House

I spent a very full day in King's Lynn yesterday as part of my work on a project for Art Reach. It was lovely to find the time to pop in to the gallery again, to visit it's evenly lit and beautifully curated space.

GroundWork is dedicated to art and environment, supporting artists and showing work that engages us with the climate crisis and the natural world. I first visited in May and loved the space. It's small, with two floors, but beautifully presented to show contemporary art of a variety of approaches, including a Richard Long wall piece, a sound installation, video of a performance on a beach, and more. I spent some time there exploring the art work and perusing the books and work in the shop.

I'm so happy the gallery recognise the synergy between their mission and my zine, and I'm excited that the work will reach more people. 

IMMINENT Issue 9, June 2024

 I've visited King's Lynn a few times now for work, and discover something new and wonderful every time. Yesterday I walked along the river in the sun to the Customs House, opposite the GroundWork Gallery. The Customs House is also being used for art exhibitions too currently by local artists, and is just one of the many heritage buildings that you discover in the town if you explore the streets that radiate from the central Tuesday Market Place. If you find yourself in King's Lynn, I encourage you to stop by the GroundWork and explore the ever changing variety of art there. The gallery describes itself as local and global - showing art of a world standard, and also showcasing local artists and supporting artist residencies, connecting art with environmental concerns.

 

Encircling

Postcards of drawings to describe the earth, planets, and measuring devices, from 17th and 18th century

As we pass the summer solstice, that time of year when the cycle starts again as the sun reaches its highest point, I think again about stone circles. This is apt, as the new issue of IMMINENT starts with ideas about circles and how people have expressed the natural world using circles for millennia. 

Stone circles that may have mapped the heavens, drawings of the movements of the planets and observations of the stars, circles that represent the seasonal cycles and spirals and circles that appear in natural forms, all these have influenced the forthcoming IMMINENT. A large circle connects the contributors too, who are all women that I have been meeting with over the last several months as part of an online eco-poetry group.

Members of the group are based in the United States, England, Canada and Panama. We share our work in progress in a circle of generosity and mutual support, and the exchanges are always exciting, enlightening and innovative. I love the work of all involved and so it seemed imperative for us to make an issue of IMMINENT together.

Issue 9 circles around ideas about nature and how we relate to it. Mary Newell notices the roundness of a wound in a tree. Anna Reckin notes how she encircles spaces where she is honing in on local flora. Chris Turnbull instinctively builds subtle stone circles, and Jennifer Spector considers the movement of the elements stone, wood, water and air in their own migrations. My drawings are reflections on the circular nature of planets and star systems, related on earth by stone circles and devices we make to map the sky. Linda Russo circles around names and naming, then zooms right in to the macro-level of moss.

Issue 9 - circles is at the printers and can be pre-ordered for the usual price of £3 + p&p from my shop page. Thank you for supporting the issue and all the artists and writers who create it. 

I encourage you to check out recent work by some of the members:

Chris Turnbull's latest book cipher was published earlier this year by Beautiful Outlaw.

Jennifer Spector is the author of Hithe (Corbel Stone Press, UK 2021) and a recent publication "sand susurran shadow stone cros(sings): a video reflection of places of dwelling" in Chant de la Sirène: Journal of Poetics & the Hybrid Arts.

Linda Russo's new book the verdant is published by Middle Creek.

Emerge

Following the success of our two performance evenings last year (Time & Tide), artist Saintly Amok and I are planning a new live poetry and performance event in Leicester soon. Based on her meditative practice Mudras, and inspired by poetry from the latest issue of Imminent, we are creating a performance within a space filled with art, responding to the current season as we find ourselves emerging from these darker months. If you would enjoy a calming, meditative and contemplative space for an evening, do join us!

Emerge - Friday 9th February 6:30-7:30pm - Leicester Print Workshop