Poets & Players 2021 Competition First Prize Winner Julian Bishop reading 'Sitting For Caravaggio'
Channel: Poets & Players
Date: 2021-04-07

Poets & Players 2021 Competition First Prize Winner Julian Bishop, 'Sitting For Caravaggio'

Julian Bishop is a former television journalist living in North London who was recently longlisted in the National Poetry Competition. A member of the collective group Poets For The Planet, he’s also a former runner-up in the Ginkgo Prize for Eco Poetry and one of four prize-winning poets featured in a 2020 pamphlet called Poems For The Planet.  

contact: twitter @julianbpoet
Poems For The Planet available at: https://www.maggiebutt.co.uk/poets-for-the-planet

Seán Hewitt’s Comments: From the moment I read this poem, I was arrested by its control, its atmosphere, the precision of its images and the dark, tense story it unfolds. It is at once delicate and alarming in its exploration of power, art, and erotics. “Although we never // touch, I feel his fingers flicker over me.” You can almost feel your own breath fluttering while you read it, such is the skill of the writing, the gradual submersion, the attentive detail. As I read the entries, it was this poem that I found had seared itself into my memory. It refuses to be forgotten.