Christodoulos Makris

In the lead up to its sixth issue, Burning Bush 2 has been running a series of short interviews with some of its previous contributors. Writers including Afric McGlinchey, Kevin Higgins, Kimberly Campanello and Dave Lordan have responded to a list of questions from BB2 editor Alan Jude Moore , with these interviews appearing on the magazine's website at a rate of two to three per week. With one writer still to come, my own responses to these questions were published today .

For my final involvement with UpStart's Granby Park project I'll be running this collaborative writing workshop under the auspices of Trade School Dublin. Trade School is a non-traditional learning community that runs on barter, and which currently operates in 48 locations (cities) around the world. Renga is a form of collaborative poetry that originated in Japan in the 11th century, in which a three line verse is followed by a two line verse then a three line verse and so on. Participants will be introduced to the basic elements of the practice, and will work together to produce a chain of linked verses. To ensure a place at the workshop, scheduled for Sunday 15 September at 12.30pm , you can sign up  at Trade School Dublin . Don't forget to bring along your barter items!

As might be expected from the work of a poet active in Dublin's spoken word scene, Litany of the City displays a neo-beat, incantatory quality throughout, often slipping into something like prayer. But unlike much work thriving in performance, Karl Parkinson's poems translate to print with their power undiluted. There's relish for the complexity of language, sending the poet into reveries that produce ecstatic visions; and there's unwavering faith in the power of the poet as seer, truth-speaker and healer. In the titular sequence particularly, some of the disturbing realities of contemporary Dublin are put under stark light - with the poet in sympathy with those neglected by the powers-that-be. Litany of the City and Other Poems , by Karl Parkinson, is now available from Wurm Press . A launch, with an introduction from Dave Lordan and including an open-mic session, takes place this coming Wednesday 4 September 2013 at McGrattan's Bar , Baggot Street, Dublin 2. ...