JP Seabright, George Parker, Jaime Lock
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ISBN: 979-8327989689 Paperback / ebook 24th June 2024
Not Your Orlando is a raw and tender, gender- and genre-fluid collaborative poetry pamphlet that glistens with sex and sweat. JP, George and Jaime 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.
Not Your Orlando is LGBTQ+ poetry (firmly with the T) at it’s sharpest and most expressive. We’re so proud to have published work this important, and of this calibre. The poems hit you one after another, fireballs and thunderstorms, equally heart-breaking and lusty. Seriously… buy it!
And it’s doing some good too – all Punk Dust proceeds (after minimal costs) will be donated to support those affected by the current situation in Palestine.
Reviews
“Not Your Orlando is so great! Celebrating queerdom, queerness, and being queer, it’s the latest publication from Punk Dust Poetry. The book explores the experience of being gay in a culture which still harbours bigotry, as the title of the final poem – You Fucking Dyke! – makes plain.
This is a book full of feist and fury, wit and wonderment, tales of terror and tales of triumph. Structured into three sections – agitate, transmutate, celebrate – it takes us on a journey which encompasses its own ‘Choose Life’ rhetoric (this poem alone is worth the price of the book) on through club cloakrooms, “transmasculine kisses”, and encouragement to Cwtch Butch – the trials and the terribleness, the joy and the jubilation, are all here. It is utterly human and humane, heartbreaking and heart lifting. The language veers and soars, and is clever and captivating throughout, without even one iota of pretension or ‘poor me’ in any of it. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. Read Not Your Orlando now, yourself, and let it fill you with wonder; two words from me, really – “yay gay”!”
— Mab Jones, Buzz Magazine, July 2024
“This was a great read of three strong poets presented by new chapbook publisher, Punk Dust. We are not told whose poems are whose, but they blend together well. There were many poems I loved here. ‘Reading Collette for the Naughty Bits’ made me smile, and I cheered for ‘On having certain feelings witnessing the glorious transformation of Eliot Page’. ‘Barberette’ is a moving account of queer space, and there was the unique comparison of breasts to ‘Little Brothers’. There are some bold poems about intimacy like ‘Shelley’, ‘Dykes on Bikes and Whitney & Cher’, and ‘Transmasculine Kiss’ (where a reference to Eileen Myles – who I was writing about recently – comes up). Above all, these poems are important not just because they document challenges of queer life (which are important to witness), but because they capture its joy and brilliance. “
— Zoe Brigley, Three Interesting Things, March 2025
“I enjoyed the densely storied titles and the restless vigour. Perhaps it was the cover image of a solidarity fisting in trans colours – the book feels like a hand in my brain, a nudge, a pushing – to expand and relax.”
— The Mollusc Dimension, Reviews, 2024
Advanced Praise for Not Your Orlando
“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 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 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
About the Authors
Jaime Lock (they/them) is a writer from the Isles of Scilly now living in London. They have poems in or forthcoming in Under the Radar, fourteen poems, Impossible Archetype, Signal House Edition, and the anthologies Cornish Modern Poetries (Broken Sleep Books, 2022) and HE / SHE / THEY / US (Macmillan, 2024) among others. Jaime is a recipient of the FylmK Award 2023 and The Squint Playwriting Award 2023. Twitter @jfranceslock Instagram @jfranceslock
George Violet Parker (they/them) is a writer, performer, host of A. G. Parker’s Cabaret of Curiosities podcast, co-host of Rebel Riot, an H&T slam winner, co-director of Queer Stage Revolution, and Disabled and Queer Artist of the Year 2022. Their performance history includes The V&A Performance Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Manchester Pride, Pride in London, Fashion Week. Their work appears in Mslexia, The F-Word, FT, Arachne Press, and more, and their novel ‘Twisted Roots’ was published by Reconnecting Rainbows Press. Twitter @a_george_parker Instagram @a_g_parker agparker.co.uk
JP Seabright (she/they) is a queer disabled writer living in London. They have four solo pamphlets published and two collaborations, encompassing poetry, prose and experimental work. They explore themes of gender, sexuality, trauma and the climate crisis in their work, and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Forward Prize (twice), as well as shortlisted (twice) for a Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work. More info at https://jpseabright.com via Twitter @errormessage and @jpseabright everywhere else.
Photograph by Chiara Luxardo: https://www.chiaraluxardo.com/
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