JOHN d. rOBINSON

WINNER OF THE UNCOLLECTED PRESS

INNER CIRCLE AWARD

Legendary “renegade” poet John D. Robinson has been selected by UnCollected Press / The Raw Art Review as the first Winner of it’s newly established ” INNER CIRCLE AWARD”. John has poetry published in hundreds of journals across the globe, has written an impressive selection of books (see bibliography below), has regularly appeared in The Raw Art Review and has had two books of poetry published by UnCollected Press (UCP). UCP’s first published book (of poetry) was John’s devastating and compassionate book of poems “Hang In There”. John has been selected for all the right reasons: his uncompromising commitment to conveying precisely what he sees; his compassion for those of us who suffer in obscurity and neglect; his unadulterated and unadorned writing that eschews all things commercial, superfluous and pretty (for pretty’s sake); the outrage and agony that motivates his constant, unapologetic commitment to poetic expression of what is.

Selecting John as the first winner of The UnCollected Press Inner Circle Award underscores the deep respect and love we feel for our colleague and friend John D. Robinson.

John was born on the South East coast of the UK in 1963: he began writing poetry in his mid-teens and has never stopped. After reading Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ aged 17, he went off the rails for 3 decades. He has at one time or another been homeless, hungry, lonely, jubilant and defiant, melancholic and dark, loved and loving, hostile and surrendering, successful and joyful, damn down dirty and crazy, arrested and applauded. He has and will never lose sight of love and compassion. He has never had any ambitions or dreams, with the exception of becoming a recluse with his beloved cats. He listens to birdsongs and classical music and embraces every day like it was the first and the last. He has made his demons into his friends and professes his eternal love for the muse. He has been a multiple nominee for the Pushcart Prize.

Editors at RAR will be nominating, discussing and selecting Poets, Fiction Writers and Artists who have established themselves as regular contributors of exceptional writing and artwork to UCP journal issues, contests, anthologies and books published by UnCollected Press. The artist’s body of work as expressed in other publications and venues will also be considered. Winners of the UCP Inner Circle Award will be offered the opportunity to publish a book with UnCollected Press and will be able to introduce and collaborate directly with UCP/RAR Editors on their own projects, as well as projects they introduce from other writers and artists. UCP Inner Circle Award winners will be given a Feature Artist Web Page that can be updated with new material on a regular basis and will be represented in a new Featured Artist section of RAR Quarterly Journal.

Please look out for a Featured Artist Web Presence on the RAR Website for John D. Robinson and at least one new book of John’s writing published by UnCollected Press. John’s participation in Inner Circle projects will be announced regularly on the RAR home page. The following is a review of John’s writing by an UCP editor:

John D. Robinson, poet of brutal compassion

I am an unrelenting, completely immersed, hopelessly addicted consumer of the poetry of John D. Robinson. The fix I get is exquisite. When I read a John D. Robinson poem, I so often experience a powerful rush of the most potent concoction – a mix of uncompromising honesty and painful empathy; a sweet and deadly solution of brutal expose and unconditional love . John’s poems deliver to me what I am always, without apology, and with admitted compulsion, seeking from life – truth and love. The poems in these books, like the poems in every John D. Robinson book, are dangerous. Prepare yourself. Make sure you have uncovered your most courageous self. The one that is willing to see things as they are and to feel the most penetrating anguish at their state. Find and sharpen the only weapon that will get you through Johns’ books whole to the other side – Love. If you can do this, you will be following after the author. John is fearless. John is courageous. John does not compromise. His books are not decorative art. His books are not the exercise of the commercial artisan. His books are stripped of 21st century consumer bullshit. His books are a way in to what matters. Getty ready to deep read. It is going to hurt. And you will love it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

‘When You Hear The Bell, There’s Nowhere To Hide’ Holy&intoxicated Publications 2016 (UK) sold out

‘Cowboy Hats & Railways’ Scars Publications 2016 (USA)

‘An Outlaw In The Making’ Scars Publications 2017 (USA)

‘Hitting Home’ Iron Lung Press 2018 (USA) sold out

‘The Pursuit Of Shadows’ Analog Submission Press 2018 (UK) sold out

‘Too Many Drinks Ago’ Paper and Ink Press (UK) 2018 sold out

‘Echoes Of Diablo’ Concrete Meat Press (UK) 2018 sold out

‘Pushing Away The Hours’ Alien Buddha Press (USA) 2018

‘Hang In There’ Uncollected Press (USA) 2019

‘Singing Aria’s’ Analog Submission Press (UK) 2019 (sold out)

‘A Hash Smoking, Codeine Swallowing, Wine Drinking Son Of A Bitch’ 2019 Alien Buddha Press (USA)