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The Friday Poem

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Bruno Cooke

 is The Friday Poem’s Spoken Word Poetry Editor. He is a postgraduate student studying global journalism with research interests in the intersection of the media, storytelling, culture and politics. His articles have appeared in Groundviews, The Focus and Forge Press, and you can read most of them on Medium. Bruno Cooke’s website is at onurbicycle.com. He has written four plays and one novel, Reveries, and currently lives in Sheffield with his partner and their cat Kylo Rennington Spa (the Purred).

    Portion of a book cover showing an abstract image (I know , another one, but this one is quite good). The background is horizontal thick blue and red wavy lines. On top of this are some flat yellow graphics representing wooden signposts.

    Haunted, haunting, cursed and cursing

    Bruno Cooke reviews Farewell Tour by Stefan Mohamed (Verve, 2022)
    Photograph of what looks like a goalpost at dusk. Its hard to tell though, it could be a large staple superimposed on a landscape background.

    A good flow is like a fossil / it preserves the time

    Bruno Cooke reviews The Lost Chronicle by Polarbear (Bloomsbury, 2022) 
    A red background has a repeating pattern on it, the pattern comprises two open hands with stigmata, a syringe with a needle and some figs, halved and whole.

    The wasp in the fig’s tissue, sharp as a slice of paper

    Bruno Cooke reviews Stephen the Phlebotomist by Nadia Lines (Nine Pens, 2022)
    The word Orlam in black script on a parchment background. The "O" is enormous and is surrounded by small line drawings of birds and insects in red. White lines like trees are in the background, and a black line-drawn lamb hangs in the centre.

    Your death opens gates to the dark world

    Bruno Cooke reviews Orlam by PJ Harvey (Picador, 2022)
    Tom is dressed in, I dunno, cellophane maybe? the background is broadly pink and they have a hat that resembles a chicken carcasse

    Sky blue pink

    Bruno Cooke on the many faces of artist, poet and social worker Tom Stockley


    Photo by Will Thomas
    three book covers in a fan shape, one has blue and grey vertical stripes, one has a pattern of hexagonal cells a bit like a hive with a black and white bee on it, one is green with a painting of a mother and daughter

    Three pamphlets: Erica Gillingham, Stephen Payne and Khadija Rouf

    Rachael Matthews reviews The Human Body is a Hive by Erica Gillingham, Richie McCaffery reviews The Wax Argument by Steven Payne, and Bruno Cooke reviews House Work by Khadija Rouf
    What does Bruno Cooke say?

    What does Bruno Cooke say?

    While studying Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London I regularly performed on the spoken word circuit in London, competed in poetry slams ...
    Kind ofd abstract blocky design in blue and grey with a pause icon in a orange circle in the centre.

    Selected Ambient Works

    Bruno Cooke reviews You've got so many machines, Richard: an anthology of Aphex Twin poetry, edited by Rishi Dastidar and Aaron Kent (Broken Sleep, 2022)
    a black handprint on a white background with a yellow stripe down the left hand side

    Prizes prised from the perished

    Bruno Cooke reviews Please Do Not Touch by Casey Bailey (Burning Eye, 2021)
    Bad Betties written in black curly script on a white background there are some footprints and nude female silhouettes a candle and a broomstick.

    Do girls not have fangs?

    Bruno Cooke reviews The Book of Bad Betties (Bad Betty, 2021) edited by Vanessa Kisuule and Anja Konig
    The word C+nto in white text on a gold background, underneath is the text "& othered poems" in black. Both fonts are serif.

    Her fear is a dress she can no longer fit into

    Bruno Cooke reviews C+nto: & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor (Saqi Books, 2021)
    Slug by Hollie McNish, orange text on a purple background

    Slug snog

    Bruno Cooke reviews Slug by Hollie McNish (Little, Brown, 2021)
    photo of Kae Tempest, short hair, black polo shirt

    ‘I did my one little verse and the place just went nuts’

    Bruno Cooke traces the development of Kae Tempest
    Close up of the two book covers, the Hit Points Anthologies, one red one green

    I don’t think Death has used a PlayStation before

    Bruno Cooke reviews Hit Points — an anthology of video game poetry, edited by Aaron Kent and Matthew Haigh (Broken Sleep, 2021)
    family photo of six people plus cat from the 1918 flu pandemic

    By golly, I’ve got it

    Bruno Cooke explores how the poetry of the 1918 Spanish flu compares with the poetry of the present Covid-19 pandemic
    photo of Joelle Taylor with very short blonde hair in a flowery shirt speaking into a mic

    You who found your dream but could not spell it

    Bruno Cooke meets Spoken Word poet Joelle Taylor and discusses activism, education and the power of poetry
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    Khadija Rouf

    Khadija Rouf

    This page shows the features and reviews that Khadija Rouf has contributed to The Friday Poem.

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