Susan Gordon Byron

There's a lot said about the goods and bads of writing competitions. But I had a poem longlisted by the Bournemouth Writing Prize last week and that meant something to me. Partly, it was 'someone read this puzzle-emotion in motion called a poem and they GOT it'

The Lady from The Sea at The Bridge theatre: a lot of swearing, and a lot of water, but it is gripping theatre.

Another discovery courtesy of Radio 3's incomparable Night Tracks: the late Japanese composer Susumu Yomota. I'm listening to Cloud Hidden on Bandcamp.

Porridge magazine has given it a second home: a poem about puzzling dreams. I love the accompanying graphic porridgemagazine.com/2025/07/23/one-poem-susan-g-byron

'Every poet is a thief', a lyric in U2's The Fly that is always loudest 😂

Solitary silence and social sounds: music can influence mental imagery, inducing thoughts of social interactions - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Solitary silence and social sounds: music can influence mental imagery, inducing thoughts of social interactions

🎶 Music as company

A new study shows that listening to music can spark mental images of social connection, even when alone.

Compared to silence, music made people imagine more vivid, social scenes.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #Music 🧪

Answered the door to two Hello Fresh reps earlier today. Their opening gambit was 'Are you head chef?' At a residential address; I'm dressed with my usual sporty/yoga class vibes. They ask if I ever have 'a cheeky little takeaway'. No, I don't.

I am unfailingly impressed by singer/songwriter Jordan Stephens. His lyrics, his book, his being. So much talent, but I think he also tries really hard to do good in the world, and he's succeeding at that. I think he's really special.

Saw Twelfth Night at the Globe this afternoon. Typically raucous work from them, but beautiful casting. I particularly enjoyed Jos Vantyler's Feste. A big star for the future, surely?

Saw the film Materialists last night with a Picturehouse preview. There were a couple of clanging moments, and it's just a smidgen repetitive towards the end, but I loved it's themes, how direct the dialogue was - it's brave, thoughtful, of today. Very glad I got to it after a long day.

Wonderful! Thank you for these heartening thoughts.

To a degree. We can't escape his charge that describing a sea captain isn't the same as being one, for example. As for my approach... how long have you got 😅 I haven't got quite comfortable with the echoes of predecessors which will appear in my work, probably why the imitation topic interested me.

You express what I wondered about as I replied - the 'accidental' imitation, where we echo earlier artists, but these instances are far from what grates for Plato, which might be, for example, a pint-sized clay rendering of a hurricane, as opposed to 'later guy who borrowed a technique from Homer'.

and surely an intentional imitation, put forward as an original work, would be an act of deception? The result would be as 'real' as any other work of art, but it isn't the artist's natural vision, either (2/2).

Thank you. To answer your question, usually yes, absolutely - however in this case perhaps Plato is aligning the artist's original vision (manifested in their chosen form), however various, with reality. We could, therefore, extend the meaning of 'imitation' to mean a falsehood (1/2)

Slow AI #6 – Teach It What It Feels Like Some knowledge begins in the skin.

🫀 Teach AI how you feel 🤖

This week’s Slow AI prompt begins in the body. Not thought, but sensation.

What does this moment feel like in you, and can your AI tool notice?

Read & try: theslowai.substack.com/p/slow-ai-6-...

#SlowAI #AI 🧪 #SciComm #EthicalAI #GenAI

I loved last week's instalment, went back to it a few times. Thank you for this project!

Hi Angela, do you add to the list in the month at all? This one looks good... bsky.app/profile/augu...

Image of The Bridge Inn in Bristol, UK featuring a mural of Jimi Hendrix split/“torn” by the words Pints & Poetry. A yellow highlight names The Bridge Inn at the top of the image. More yellow highlights show the date, time, and address of the event: Sunday, 28 September 2025, 7pm-9pm, 16 Passage St, Bristol BS2 0JF, UK

We're excited to announce Chris Campbell will be reading from his forthcoming collection WHY I WEAR MY PAST TO WORK on 28/9 at The Bridge Inn in Bristol.

Swing by to see Chris and the other amazing readers, grab a pint, and hear some fantastic poetry!

Click through for the poets!

Looked it up. Ah, a highly rated sequel. Thanks for the pointer.

Actually a subtle subversion on the 'US military might prevails' narrative popular at the time, because the ending shows that they never actually defeat the alien. The best they can hope for is survival. I enjoyed it, especially the cat-and-mouse jungle scenes, which run almost like a silent movie.

I do think 'art is imitative' is an intentional misreading of Plato's The Republic. Firstly, he is taking aim at Homeric narrative poetry, not other media. Secondly, he distinguishes between a 'good artist' and a 'real artist': the latter 'would be interested in realities and not imitations'.

We have written to them to seek firm clarification and assurance that customer files will not be used to train AI.

You can read the full letter societyofauthors.org/2025/07/23/w...

We will keep you updated on their response.

Random day off thought... James Bond is just a writer with a gun: a working solitude ends up defining them.

I'll be honest, I can't work out how to join you. There's no video link or ticket link.

I contend that it's a rice crackers day. The dark chocolate has already gone 😉

If you’re looking for alternatives to WeTransfer you could do worse than try Pidge, Flung, Gotcha, FromMeToYou, GetOut, Dumpster, Wheeee!, Bungee, Scrinkle, Chuckaway, Catchit, FileBegone, Upplode or Phuqoph.

Legs over High Tor, Matlock, 1975, photo by Paul Hill.

I can't think of the composer Benjamin Britten without thinking 'I must see his work live...' and regretting not knowing his work better. It's become an ambition, like going to Wimbledon or something. I wonder if a slightly suspect national pride is behind it.

The only note of caution I have, really, is making sure your time is properly rewarded spiritually or monetarily.