Viv Kemp
@vivkemp.bsky.social
Poet and PhD student at UEA.
Writing and writing about sonnets. Published in Stinging Fly, Propel, and Bi+ Lines.
They/them.
Writing and writing about sonnets. Published in Stinging Fly, Propel, and Bi+ Lines.
They/them.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Rolling out the Matt Christman quote from after Charlottesville (2017) again:
November 21, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Rolling out the Matt Christman quote from after Charlottesville (2017) again:
Mani was simply my favourite bassist. Incredibly clear lines and groove but also had a quietly captivating virtuosity (see I Am The Resurrection) that made him Manchester's McCartney to me. If music were a sport, his parts on the first Roses album and XTRMNTR would be hung from the rafters.
the greatness of a stone roses song sort of hinged on what mani was doing
November 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Mani was simply my favourite bassist. Incredibly clear lines and groove but also had a quietly captivating virtuosity (see I Am The Resurrection) that made him Manchester's McCartney to me. If music were a sport, his parts on the first Roses album and XTRMNTR would be hung from the rafters.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday
- It never failed to bring a smile to my face - and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
One of the absolute best in every way - such a beautiful friend
Love you Mani x x
Never to be forgotten
- It never failed to bring a smile to my face - and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
One of the absolute best in every way - such a beautiful friend
Love you Mani x x
Never to be forgotten
November 20, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday
- It never failed to bring a smile to my face - and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
One of the absolute best in every way - such a beautiful friend
Love you Mani x x
Never to be forgotten
- It never failed to bring a smile to my face - and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
One of the absolute best in every way - such a beautiful friend
Love you Mani x x
Never to be forgotten
Reposted by Viv Kemp
This basically vindicates Wordsworth in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads when he wrote of 'the tendency of metre to divest language, in a certain degree, of its reality, and thus to throw a sort of half-consciousness of unsubstantial existence over the whole composition'
This study show that using poems to jailbreak LLMs is... super effective? What the heck.
November 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This basically vindicates Wordsworth in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads when he wrote of 'the tendency of metre to divest language, in a certain degree, of its reality, and thus to throw a sort of half-consciousness of unsubstantial existence over the whole composition'
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Very sad to hear about Leslie Lee, chronic illness is such a motherfucker
November 14, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Very sad to hear about Leslie Lee, chronic illness is such a motherfucker
So fiercely sad and shocked to hear Leslie has passed. I was a day one Struggle Session listener and was lucky enough to meet him in 2019. All the tributes are remarking on how kind and decent he was, and in the hour or so we talked I saw that in spades. So much is awful but this still stings. RIP.
I’m sharing over here as many of you also knew Leslie…
His wife has confirmed his passing on Twitter/X.
The go fund me he linked below will be used to help his family.
A fierce Long Covid advocate who was taken far too soon.
Rest easy Leslie, we won’t forget you.
His wife has confirmed his passing on Twitter/X.
The go fund me he linked below will be used to help his family.
A fierce Long Covid advocate who was taken far too soon.
Rest easy Leslie, we won’t forget you.
November 15, 2025 at 12:33 AM
So fiercely sad and shocked to hear Leslie has passed. I was a day one Struggle Session listener and was lucky enough to meet him in 2019. All the tributes are remarking on how kind and decent he was, and in the hour or so we talked I saw that in spades. So much is awful but this still stings. RIP.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
lol she got his ass and he knows it
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
lol she got his ass and he knows it
Reposted by Viv Kemp
academy award contending tiktok
September 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
academy award contending tiktok
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Tony Harrison RIP
I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades.
Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.
I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades.
Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.
September 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Tony Harrison RIP
I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades.
Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.
I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades.
Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.
Another poet that Gerry Dawe introduced me to that I still love. I still remember how energising, poetically radicalising "V" was when I first read it. His Collected Poems has been a cherished possession ever since I got my hands on one. Rest in peace.
September 27, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Another poet that Gerry Dawe introduced me to that I still love. I still remember how energising, poetically radicalising "V" was when I first read it. His Collected Poems has been a cherished possession ever since I got my hands on one. Rest in peace.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
These people talk about the UK as if it’s Wakanda and not a place where everyone drinks water with faeces and plastics in it
Starmer Says It Has Been Too Easy for Migrants to Come to the UK 🇬🇧
September 26, 2025 at 10:29 AM
These people talk about the UK as if it’s Wakanda and not a place where everyone drinks water with faeces and plastics in it
🎶It's the most wonderful time of the year🎶
GUESS WHAT WEEK IT IS
September 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
🎶It's the most wonderful time of the year🎶
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Creative Writing - 5 years
University College Dublin
Full time, temporary
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOS472/l...
University College Dublin
Full time, temporary
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOS472/l...
Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Creative Writing - 5 years at University College Dublin
Recruiting now: Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Creative Writing - 5 years on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board
www.jobs.ac.uk
September 17, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Creative Writing - 5 years
University College Dublin
Full time, temporary
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOS472/l...
University College Dublin
Full time, temporary
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOS472/l...
Reposted by Viv Kemp
September 17, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Goodnight sweet prince. Such a titan of "dad cinema" that I actually got to watch loads of great films at too young an age to actually understand them.
To be more serious, he used his innate starpower to get groundbreaking films made, and started so many careers through Sundance alone.
To be more serious, he used his innate starpower to get groundbreaking films made, and started so many careers through Sundance alone.
a man with long blonde hair and a beard is holding a fishing rod
Alt: The famous Robert Redford nodding gif - a man with long blonde hair and a beard is holding a fishing rod, the camera zooms slowly, and then he nods and smiles affirmingly
media.tenor.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Goodnight sweet prince. Such a titan of "dad cinema" that I actually got to watch loads of great films at too young an age to actually understand them.
To be more serious, he used his innate starpower to get groundbreaking films made, and started so many careers through Sundance alone.
To be more serious, he used his innate starpower to get groundbreaking films made, and started so many careers through Sundance alone.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Both he and Newman were exactly what famous actors should be: concerned with doing good work and getting good films made, displaying an affection and love for art, having fun hobbies, giving lots of their time and money to help people and not being a complete piece of shit in their personal life RIP
September 16, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Both he and Newman were exactly what famous actors should be: concerned with doing good work and getting good films made, displaying an affection and love for art, having fun hobbies, giving lots of their time and money to help people and not being a complete piece of shit in their personal life RIP
Reposted by Viv Kemp
no
Robert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist, Dies at 89
www.nytimes.com
September 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM
no
Reposted by Viv Kemp
This is a huge task and it really does involve a cultural shift that is counter to what every government and tech guy is trying to force upon us. But any effective resistance, deradicalisation etc. has to rely on taking on digital supremacy and rejecting online as a way of organising one’s life.
September 13, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This is a huge task and it really does involve a cultural shift that is counter to what every government and tech guy is trying to force upon us. But any effective resistance, deradicalisation etc. has to rely on taking on digital supremacy and rejecting online as a way of organising one’s life.
Reposted by Viv Kemp
And they don’t have to make sense! In fact, they’re far more effective if they aren’t. So there does need to be some effort, I believe, in convincing many people that their offline lives matter, that it should mean more than being on the computer
September 13, 2025 at 7:55 PM
And they don’t have to make sense! In fact, they’re far more effective if they aren’t. So there does need to be some effort, I believe, in convincing many people that their offline lives matter, that it should mean more than being on the computer
Reposted by Viv Kemp
All of which is to say that so many of these people who came out today probably have very little by way of a life offline. It’s clear from I/vs and vox pops that many of them struggle to actually explain what they believe in, that the way they move through the world is online references
September 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
All of which is to say that so many of these people who came out today probably have very little by way of a life offline. It’s clear from I/vs and vox pops that many of them struggle to actually explain what they believe in, that the way they move through the world is online references
Reposted by Viv Kemp
Reposted by Viv Kemp
and may flights of angels sing him to his rest 😇🙏
September 10, 2025 at 9:50 PM
and may flights of angels sing him to his rest 😇🙏