Released 22 May 2026 // Poetry Pamphlet // 52 pages
'Here is James Knight, easily misunderstood. He wants you well, but there are textures that need capturing and so the text of that sits betwixt visuals of such depth, you could almost fall in. Into the mortar. Mud poems. Completely in a tradition but unique, arresting, fecund, tottering, oncoming.'
— SJ Fowler
'A ghostly presence stalks this complex and unsettling work. The struggle for communication feels primal, threatening to engulf the reader. We wither in the face of our own atrophy. A pulsing repetition infuses the text with urgency, adding tension inside the claustrophobic effect of the words.'
— Rachel Smith
wastes / wraiths - James Knight
James Knight is a poet, artist, performer and publisher based in the UK. Publications include Cosmic Horror (Hem Press), Rites & Passages (Salò Press), Chimera (Penteract Press), Machine (Trickhouse Press) and Void Voices (Hesterglock Press). James has performed in locations as varied as Christie's, the National Poetry Library, and a shopping centre, often as his masked alter-ego, the Bird King.
Website: www.thebirdking.com
Bluesky: @badbadpoet
Instagram/Threads: @jkbirdking
