NAKED OYSTER, IF A LEAF FALLS PRESS, 2025
From the publisher:
“Naked Oyster, the debut collection by Poppy Cockburn – author of pamphlets such as Liquid Crystal Lovesick Demon and feed notes – gathers 100-odd of her pithiest, prettiest and most coruscating poems. A specialist of the aphorism, the two-to-four liner in her hands is turned like a joke, a curse, a mirror, a glowstick, a dart; precision and point hasn’t achieved this density-per-inch since the Roman eprigrammists of the 2nd Century. Sly, sensual, comely, cruel, in the space of a few seconds each poem manages to be intro, outro, seduction and farewell in one.”
Liquid crystal lovesick demon, broken sleep, 2023
“Here are poems that return the gaze. They dissect it, fetishise it, paint it upon landscapes both expansive and intimate and, with glittering willingness, draw us towards reassembling ourselves among the crystal remnants of having been watched.” — Mau Baiocco
Waiting room, invisible hand press, 2021
“With bold lyricism and touches of dark humour, Waiting Room shines a light on what it means to connect with someone, and in doing so, redefines romance.”
FEED NOTES, IF A LEAF FALLS, 2021 (edition of 60)
A sequence of micro musings concerned with self image and media-warped perceptions.
EVERYWHERE SWANS, BOTTLECAP PRESS, 2022
“The poems in everywhere swans are interconnected, linked loosely together around the watery site of a relationship. The recurring motif of a swan acts as a touchpoint for reflecting on the complexities of contemporary romance — on disparate values and fluidity, on how withheld communication can fuel obsession, and on how progressive ideals might be challenged by our instincts, or hindered by a lack of language through which to articulate ourselves and explore them safely.”
My poems have appeared in Anthropocene, AFM (A Fucking Magazine), Rough Trade, SPAM Zine, The Rialto, Berlin Lit, NEW: The Journal of American Poetry, Dream Boy Book Club, Discount Guillotine, Perverse, Strings, Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers, Worms and others.
In 2023, I was the recipient of DYCP funding from Arts Council England.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The next episode of my live reading event Is it Dirty? takes place on Thursday 22 January 2026:
Poppy Cockburn 