“City” from Imperfect (2017) Yew Tree Press
Text and voice: Maria Stadnicka
Sound: Stephan Micus, “The Horses of Nizami” from Desert Poems (2001)
Images: The US Department of Defense National Archives Catalogue, “Italian Prisoners of War Returning Home”, Naples, 1945
© Maria Stadnicka, 2022
For Printed Poetry Symposium Andrew Morrison and Maria Stadnicka have documented the process of making a collaborative print – a dialogue between poet (who also draws) and letterpress artist (who also writes). The poem reaches towards appropriate visual form as letterpress variations are passed between the two. Maria and Andrew have worked together on a number of projects involving written/spoken word and visual arts; most recently Andrew’s letterpress collages made in response to Maria’s poems from Buried Gods Metal Prophets (Guillemot Press, 2021).
Printed Poetry Symposium is organised by Angie Butler for the Centre for Print Research, UWE, Bristol. and takes place on Thursday, 14th October 2021, 2pm at Arnolfini, Bristol.
The event includes talks by: Nancy Campbell, Johanna Darque (Small Press), Antony Dunn (the People Powered Press), Leonard McDermid, Andrew Morrison, Maria Stadnicka, Ndukwe Onuoha, Pat Randle, and Barrie Tullett. Tickets are available here.
© Maria Stadnicka, October 2021.
This is a fragment from ‘Domestication’ created by Andrew Morrison and Maria Stadnicka. The video follows the poem ‘Domestication’ (© Stadnicka, 2021) and it is a reflection on how the notions of work, writing and collaboration have changed during the lockdown in the UK, following the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
‘Domestication’ was produced for the Printed Poetry Project, organised by Angie Butler for the Centre for Print Research, UWE, Bristol.
The video and discussion will feature on Thursday, 14th October 2021, 2pm at the Printed Poetry Symposium, Arnolfini, Bristol.
The symposium will include talks by: Nancy Campbell, Johanna Darque (Small Press), Antony Dunn (the People Powered Press), Leonard McDermid, Andrew Morrison, Maria Stadnicka, Ndukwe Onuoha, Pat Randle, and Barrie Tullett. Tickets are available here.
© Maria Stadnicka, September 2021.
Forthcoming ‘Domestication’: film collaboration with the book artist and printer Andrew Morrison for Arnolfini Bristol.
© Maria Stadnicka, September 2021.
The exhibition TU : PLEI will be open 20-25 July 2021 at Stroud Brewery, 9am-5pm.
© Maria Stadnicka, 22nd July 2021
During supper at our usual tavern
it reeks of furniture polish. At six o’clock
waiters dust the old piano then serve
wine out of bleached carafes.
Two past seven. Room temperature
eighteen Celsius. Twenty-three guests
order the same main course.
Those seated by the piano need
face coverings. They ask for salt
and spare cutlery. Twenty past seven.
The kitchen door opens
four times in twelve minutes.
There is a power cut when guest B
finishes the lamb chops.
The waiters bring out fire-safe candles.
Guests A and C reach for matches.
No-one speaks.
© Maria Stadnicka June 2021
Excerpt from the sequence Hermit Age.
Photograph © Saul Leiter
Dreamed we were eating
pasta with mud and no-one
complained that earth lacked
seasoning. Yes, thank you,
since you ask, I will have
another portion of this.
At present it makes life
bearable.
© Maria Stadnicka, June 2020
At the end of Week #11, the lockdown measures started to ease off, amid concerns over increase in the ‘R’ number. From 0.7 to 1.1. Some schools are still closed, but some cafes are open for business. The #BlackLivesMatter movement was marked by protests in many towns and cities, including Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Overall, it rained, it yelled, it poured, it angered, then things carried on as usual.
© Maria Stadnicka, June 2020
Photography © John Stadnicki, June 2020, Midlands, UK
Photography: © John Stadnicki, May 2020
Maria Stadnicka 