@azjackson
Writer, editor of poetry, including Poetry Scotland and Whaleback City Press. Knee-deep in assorted poetry-related malarkey including New Boots & Pantisocracies, the Otwituaries, Double Dactyl of the Week, Project Abeona and more.
An #Otwituary for musician and activist #CountryJoeMcDonald
And it’s 1-2-3, what were you fighting for?
The music of sanity in an insane world.
And it’s 5-6-7, open up the pearly gates;
the lost patrol of the counterculture is here,
sounding off one-two in furious ragtime.
#DoubleDactyl of the week is for those like me who are holding a place until someone better comes along. From Marnanel Thurman, with thanks.
An #Otwituary for TV producer #KenithTrodd
I choose television; television
without fear, that sings while
others shrug, that shows the idiot
in the lantern before pulling out
to show ourselves in deep focus.
#OneDrop Twenty-One examines the mid-70s crossover between #reggae and #punk, featuring a poem from the great Nick Toczek and some fantastic tunes from that special (albeit brief) era.
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-t...
Transmission 43 from #ProjectAbeona - poems from a speculative spacebound future - comes via Farah Maria Rahman from a stable orbit above Neptune.
projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/transmissi...
Some people say that the #DoubleDactyl is too short a form to deal with serious issues. Here is Penny Campbell to confound all that with a hexasyllabic tale of burgeoning adolescence, implied sexual violence, female impersonators, identity theft, and dentistry.
An #Otwituary for songwriter an musician #NeilSedaka
Welcome to 1619 Broadway, a place
where writers search for Sixteen
among the keys of an old piano,
where songs pay five dollars a line,
but everybody knows them by heart.
We’re off on running with the fourth of our #SonnetChains. This time it’s Sophie Herxheimer and Nancy Campbell on co-editing duties. Sophie starts us off with one of her trademark works of poetic appliqué. More to come every fortnight!
newbootsandpantisocracies.wordpress.com/2026/02/21/a...
#DoubleDactyl of the week is from Alice Meynell, and is a model of diplomacy. Or a reactionary warmonger. You decide.
#OneDrop Twenty celebrates the #reggae horn section - featuring a great poem from Jim Carruth and various bits and pieces of music and historical context.
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-t...
An #Otwituary for Civil Rights activist #JesseJackson
I fell into the company of marchers standing
at the foot of a rainbow, half way between the
mountain and the ghetto. Their leader told me
in a voice of fire Progress is not walking away
from something bad, but marching towards it.
An #Otwituary for actor #RobertDuvall
If this were your poem, it would ring
with authenticity; it would choose its
words with care, deliver them like an
obscure gospel. But this poem is mine,
and if I say it's safe to write this poem,
then it's safe to write this poem.
Our editors are currently approaching folk to set up the chain, which will be posted fortnightly on the #NewBootsAndPantisocracies site and shared here and on Effbok, TwittereX, & Insta, then (all being well) published in the autumn.
#ArtSonnetChain @azjackson.bsky.social
Sophie and Nancy will be looking for art structured like a sonnet, for sonnets that can be drawn, snipped, or modelled. As long as it is reproducible on paper in black and white, and something like a last line can be handed on, let's see how far we can go!
#ArtSonnetChain #NewBootsAndPantisocracies
As in previous years, #NewBootsAndPantisocracies interrupt your #ValentinesDay weekend to bring you a collaborative sonnet-y announcement:
For our 4th chain, #WhalebackCityPress have asked @sophieherx.bsky.social & #NancyCampbell to edit an #ArtSonnetChain.
newbootsandpantisocracies.wordpress.com
For our fourth sonnet chain (see our website for the previous chains), Whaleback City Press have invited Sophie Herxheimer and Nancy Campbell to edit an Art Sonnet Chain, starting on February 21st and posting fortnightly on New Boots and Pantisocracies, and sharing widely.
#DoubleDactyl of the Week is from Robert Lindsay Marcus. Told him once before (and I won’t tell him no more) to get down!
#ProjectAbeona is back with another poem from a plausible future. This one comes hot off the Mass Driver from Richard Price, and is a reminder that even in the vastness of space, there are always little jobs that need doing.
projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/transmissi...
One Drop Nineteen celebrates ska once again, featuring a poem from Beth McDonough celebrating an evening with Madness in 1979...
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-n...
@cerysmatthews.bsky.social in honour of your appreciation of Catherine O’Hara this morning…♥️
An #Otwituary for comic actor #CatherineO’Hara
Let's get your old folk duo back together
to sing your naive ballads. Take me out to a
Dog Show, or an alternative Oscars where
they give out statues for vanity and mischief,
where there's no script, but everybody laughs.
#juniorbyles #reggae
One Drop Eighteen features some wonderful words from poet Geoffrey Philip, plus a feature on the lost voice of reggae, Junior Byles.
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-e...
An #Otwituary for snooker player and commentator #JohnVirgo
Our lives depend on how
the pack splits. Some can
plan the future three shots
ahead; others rattle the jaws
of fate’s pocket, never knowing
where the cue ball may be going.
#DoubleDactyl of the week doesn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Says Terese Coe.
Listen here to catch up with the launch of the @whalebackcity.bsky.social pamphlet Eco Sonnet Chain. Brought to you by the Poetry Worth Hearing podcast.
open.spotify.com/episode/1FeZ...
An #Otwituary for radio broadcaster #NigelOgden
The console lights come on; a hiss
of pneumatics before the 64-footer
clears its throat, audible from space.
Hands blur across four banks of keys;
the organist entertains, an orchestra
of ten fingers and a chorus of titans.
An #Otwituary for legendary #reggae drummer #SlyDunbar
Three taps on the rim of a snare,
and it can only be you. The skins
pulse to the riddim of your blood;
beat leaves holes in the studio air.
A taut roll as the last track begins;
nothing could ever sound so good.
One Drop continues after the Christmas break, bringing you poetic appreciations of Finley Quaye and Benjamin Zephaniah.
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-s...
An #Otwituary for BBC journalist #MarkTully
A voice comes through the heat-haze,
telling a billion stories of a billion lives,
separating truth from myth to camera,
reporting the spirit of a distant people,
unpicking the knotted braids of a nation.
@bbcindia.bsky.social @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social