Vik Shirley : part one

Vik Shirley's chapbook, Corpses, was published by Sublunary Editions in March 2020. Her collection, The Continued Closure of the Blue Door, is forthcoming from HVTN Press and a pamphlet of her visual poetry is due from Hesterglock Press, early 2021. Her work has appeared in such places as Perverse, 3am Magazine and Dostoyevsky Wannabe Cities: Bristol. She is currently studying for a PhD in 'Dark Humour and the Surreal in Poetry' at the University of Birmingham. Follow her @VikShirley.

Photo credit: Lisa Whiting

What are you working on?

I've been working on some short fictions, a poetry review and some grotesque miniatures, similar to those in my Corpses chapbook. I've also been finishing my Disrupted Blue and Other Poems on Polaroid pamphlet, for Hesterglock Press, a book of visual poems combining found family photographs and handwriting. The lead pieces use Joni Mitchell lyrics. Blue was my mother's favourite album. The book is dedicated to her. The Polaroids are ones she took when travelling in Europe and Canada. They were separated from family photos, as they didn't contain people. Some are buildings and structures, others scenery. There are 10 pieces that match the 10 album tracks. The other poems work with text, automatic writing, generated over lockdown. I have some of the poems coming out in the Autumn issue of The Indianapolis Review. The original five, which inspired me to put the book together, were published in 3am Magazine last year. For my PhD studies, I'm about to have a look at the poetry of Egyptian-French surrealist poet Joyce Mansour, in relation to sex, death and humour in her writing.