James Knight is a poet, artist and performer, born in London and now lost in Somerset. Sceptical of the notion that poetry can be a form of self-expression, and antagonistic to anything that could be considered fashionable, he has assiduously avoided relevance through the adoption of fanciful masks and personas, of which the Bird King (an embodiment of primal rage and clownish folly) remains his favourite.
Most of James’s publications could be categorised as visual poetry, and reflect his obsession with the difficult relationship between words and pictures. His books include Void Voices (Hesterglock Press), Machine (Trickhouse Press), Bloods Dream (Beir Bua Press), The Murderer Threatened (Paper View Books) and Rites and Passages (Salò Press). His visual poetry has been exhibited in various places, physical and virtual, including the Poetry Cafe in London.
By day, James teaches English and drama in a secondary school. By night, he runs Steel Incisors, a small press dedicated to innovative visual poetry.
James' Hem Press release, Cosmic Horror, is available here.
