On Form

The ever innovative Penned in the Margins have published an intriguing new compendium, Adventures in Form, edited by Tom Chivers. Alongside all the more familiar formal experiments, such as the Oulipian 'N+7' game of automatic poem production and collages of found material, you can find 'skinny vilanelles' and even the 'tragic Wilson'. If that means nothing to you, that's all the more reason to get hold of this inspiring and often highly entertaining volume.

One of my favourites was the 'Poemixtape' proposed by Chrissy Williams. Here, a poem is constructed from song titles with one word linking each title to the next. This made me feel so nostalgic for the days of C90 cassettes, I made my own - listen here on Spotify to Side A and Side B!