
Gynandromorph
George Violet Parker's debut poetry collection
"Gynandromorph is a liberatory dance against our oppressors. A 'sin fest' of 'silicon hardons', 'teeth and talons'. These poems remind us to keep raging and resting, and if we must, to die fighting."
- Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, poet, facilitator and creative producer
In this unabashedly horny and experimental ride through gender identity, chronic illness, sex and the self, poet and activist George Parker digs into what it means to exist and how a person moves through a world that doesn’t always understand - or want to understand - life outside the binary.
Published by Written Off
Praise for Gynandromorph
"When you lift the front cover of Gynandromorph, an ‘ocean of lust’ spills into your lap. This collection vibrates with unapologetic radical joy for a funny, sexy ride."
- Lalah-Simone Springer, poet and speculative fiction writer, author of An Aviary of Common Birds
"When I pick up collections of poetry, I never expect to see myself in any capacity. My story of queerness and disability often has no place in the prose of poetry – relegated instead to textbooks or underviewed policy reports or theses that go unread. You can imagine my surprise when reading the new collection by GV Parker when I saw my story come to life. I was stopped in my tracks as I read their words – ones that so eloquently, unapologetically put my story front and center. The way Parker weaves sexuality, disability alongside the stark realities of living in the margins of disability is something to behold, cherish and above all else, listen to."
- Andrew Gurza, award-winning disability consultant, podcast host, author, activist, and actor.
"Gynandromorph will make you sweat. Parker's punchy and slick wordplay slams to the fore, dazzling with a mix of tight rhymes and verdant imagery. They open a door into themselves you're going to want to step through. You'll be taken to Greece, Grease (Lightning) and get greased up. These poems will give you the best fuck of your life and then make you breakfast... You're going to need to roll a cigarette."
- Crow Rudd, Creator & Host of Sad Poets Doorstep Club
"Whip smart, hotter than hell’s aspirational top temperatures and taut thoughts that crackle with ecstatic tension. Eat this up then read it again. Consume Gyandromorph with the heaving delight of a last meal. George Violet Parker knows how to top the alphabet and your senses. Say yes please and dive in. "
- Jasper Peach, author, activist, and creator
"Gynandromorph makes of George Violet Parker’s ‘body-cathedral’ a piñata, which spills diamonds and wildflowers, strapons and sweat, cheap beer and sang de règles, with a charred confetti of DWP letters. Grab the goodies while you can."
- Matt Alton, poet, performer, and an Apple and Snakes Future Voice.
'Like the genderqueer organism that gives the book its title, Gynandromorph introduces an extravagant voice that knows itself. 'Show me your dents' one poem says, and here is a dented, unbuttoned poetry, cast in a voice both wanting and wanton, and, at times, as delightfully kitschy as a John Waters film. 'Stories are wound around my lips' Parker writes, and this book is full of stories. A Wyvern stands in a club cloakroom, and Cthulhu and Sisyphus are to be found at the gym. Like the best drag performances, there is a serious intent behind this work, and a beating heart in what one poem calls the 'gender glistening' landscape of these words. Parker's poems don't lose sight of those who have 'blundered away from north'. As alert to the lacerating 'faded conclusion of a sneer' as to the tragicomedy of 'death's throbbing knob', Parker's poems look toward people who 'choose life as the world falls down'.'
- Karl Knights. Karl Knights is a freelance journalist. His poetry and prose has appeared in the Guardian, The Dark Horse, Poetry London and elsewhere. He lives in Suffolk. Kin is his debut pamphlet.
Not Your Orlando
“Not Your Orlando stems from the life force that is trans family. These poems sweat & feel & fuck their way into being. What a honour to be seen by these words.” — Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, poet, playwright, and sex education facilitator
Not Your Orlando is a raw and tender, gender- and genre-fluid collaborative poetry pamphlet that glistens with sex and sweat. JP Seabright, George Parker and Jaime Lock explore life at the margins, the politics of sex and identity, the protest songs of late night dive bars, and the reality of being different in a straight-jacketed world. Strap on and strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Praise for NYO
“The musicality of the political poems here is reminiscent of freedom songs and the chants of revolutions, making for a timeless contribution to the poetics of uprising. These are poems that should be on billboards. Their collaborative writing, which boldly dissolves the cult of individualism, cements this queer poetry in queer practice. Here is a book that deserves a place in the archives of liberation literature.”
— lisa minerva luxx, poet, playwright, political activist, author of Fetch Your Mothers Heart
“Not Your Orlando address us with proud discourse on ‘what it means to Be’. As ‘queerness’ – like poetry – is at once separate and bound to the non-normative soul, this collection is a manifestation of queer life in all its glory. Three revolutionary poets remind us of ourselves.”
— Dorian Rose, Founder/Director of Transmuted
“Wow. What a definitive and triumphant march through the complicated, messy, beautiful ways one can be as a queer person. A powerhouse collaboration that speaks to the multitudes of raw experience and aching desire.”
— Bridget Hart, writer, performer, producer, co-director of For Books’ Sake