The Learned Pig

Art – Thinking – Nature – Writing

Tag: literature

  • Echtrai

    Echtrai

    An interview with Baz Nichols, editor of Echtrai, a new art and literary journal exploring landscapes lost, abandoned, forgotten, mythic.

  • In the PoemGarden

    In the PoemGarden

    A personal essay by Professor Alice Entwistle of the University of South Wales exploring the many connections between poetry and gardening,

  • Songs We Learn from Trees

    Songs We Learn from Trees

    Chris Beckett and Alemu Tebeje give the lowdown on the Amharic poetry of Ethiopia. Then poetry by Solomon Deressa, Gebre Kristos Desta and Liyou Libsekal.

  • …these little queer ciphers…

    …these little queer ciphers…

    A Q&A with Jenn Thompson and Ellis, co-founders of Cipher Press, a new independent publisher of queer fiction and non-fiction.

  • All The Places

    All The Places

    Three poems by South African poet and clinical psychologist Musawenkosi Khanyile, from his recent collection, All The Places, published by uHlanga Press.

  • Untranslatable

    Untranslatable

      Chamomile Freak-show Poisonous in the wild, or so I was told, overtaking the verges on the main road, probably nothing after oversized daisies perhaps, a gem or relaxation abates. Mirror versus lamp, a stay of education. Stock complexity produces verse upon verse, selectively lit past occasion obliging, stranger things have happened, mug in hand….

  • Dicksonia Antarctica

    Dicksonia Antarctica

      The Tree Fern I once had a Tree Fern (Dicksonia Antarctica) For many, many years my First view each morning From our upstairs window. Beautiful, sweeping fronds So elegant in light breeze. I took care each winter to Wrap the crown, protect From frost and bitter winds. One spring it still stood tall Yet…

  • Canta de mí Sangre

    Canta de mí Sangre

      Unabashed Creek bed: clear green washes all stones un-rough in smooth grip when the light spills and it is mid-week, no one is aware skins shed. Trees strip slipping off garments well-worn, hampers piled high fallen secrets left un-hidden. The afternoon appears in front of a hallow sky. I follow the trail and cross…

  • Entrained Rhythms

    Entrained Rhythms

    I: Aretha I’ve just moved to Uppsala, Sweden, where at first I knew no-one, apart from my old friend Kalle, who with characteristic kindness invited me to go see Amazing Grace with him as soon as I arrived. We packed into the smallest room of the Fyrisbiografen, a tiny cinema constructed in 1911 and now…

  • Open call: Rhythm

    Open call: Rhythm

      *** Rhythm is currently closed for submissions. We will reopen again soon. You can sign up to our newsletter for updates. ***   From the impact of clocks on notions of time, to the effects of computers, trains and planes on experiences of modern life, rhythm – in various forms and ways – determines,…

  • On Time and Mess

    On Time and Mess

      Once we understand excess, then we can get really simple. – Robert Rauschenberg     Exploring poetry’s absent indispensable character Because poetry is not a thing that lives, to put it mildly, upon the regulation and control of grammar and correct spelling, in the final preparations for the publication of my book, ‘I fear…