Spells: 21st-Century Occult Poetry

Spells are poems; poetry is spelling. Spell-poems take us into a place where the right words can influence the universe. Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry brings together 30 contemporary voices exploring the territory between the occult and the subversion of patriarchy. Occult poetics is a method of self-determination and transformation through a summoning of the world, through remaking reality. Capable of holding the contradictions of identity and trauma, poetry as magical language is talismanic, offering a sacred space away from everyday experiences of oppression. Spells honours the world of feeling, the world of the unconscious, the world of the body: desires and practices that are messy and diverse, as well as joyful, fun and celebratory. Contains new work by: Kaveh Akbar, Rachael Allen, Nuar Alsadir, Emily Berry, Khairani Bharokka, A.K. Blakemore, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Jen Calleja, Vahni Capildeo, Kayo Chingonyi, Elinor Clegh