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Gospel Oak: collected poems 2007-2012 A collection of lyric verse set on Hampstead Heath looking at the city of London

This collection of poems, ‘Gospel Oak’, constitutes a central output of my research into the relation between ‘words and images’ focusing on the poesis of form. The overall research project includes publication in journals, multi-media performances, readings, video and film installations and allies with my theoretical writings on the semiotics of CS Peirce and Pound’s conceptualisation of Image. Taking the English/Common Oak as a leitmotif, Gospel Oak researches the apparent schism between urban and rural through the specifics of Hampstead Heath and the City of London. Based on a methodology of drawing, photography and writing, the texts move both recursively back into ancient history and forward into an imaginative dystopia in an attempt to understand the present moment. In 2009 I was awarded a Hawthornden International Creative Writing Residential Fellowship to develop the manuscript for ‘Gospel Oak’. 12 public readings include: Saison Poetry Library, South Bank, Jan 9th 2013; Shuffle, Poetry Society, March 30th. 2013; Copy Press, Conway Hall, May 25th. 2013. 4 journal publications include ‘Shearsman’ 93,94, winter, 2012/13; ‘Poetry Review’, vol.102:1 spring, 2012; and ‘Trees in Winter’ was selected as poem of the week Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre March 2013. It has been reviewed in Poetry Wales and Poetry London, 2013. Researching the relation between vocal text and video projection, 9 public performances include King’s Place, London, March, 10th. 2009; and Camden Arts Centre, Jan 20th. 2013. Gospel Oak includes research into inscribed text with projection of 16mm film and video installation: 6 exhibitions including ‘Anthology’, Film in Space, Camden Arts Centre, Jan. 7th-14th 2013. An interview on ‘Gospel Oak’ appeared in the ‘Camden New Journal’, March 7th 2013 and I discussed Trees in Art on the Today programme, BBC Radio 4, November10th 2012.