Arlo Parks covers Jai Paul’s ‘Jasmine’ and announces debut poetry book

nme.com:

Arlo Parks has announced her debut poetry booK, The Magic Border: Poetry and Fragments From My Soft Machine, as well as recording a cover of Jai Paul‘s ‘Jasmine’.Parks recently released her sophomore album, ‘My Soft Machine’.

Now, the Mercury Prize winner has announced that Fourth Estate won an eight-publisher auction for the singer’s debut poetry and song lyrics book from the record.The Magic Border: Poetry and Fragments From My Soft Machine is set to be released on September 12 and will combine “never-before-seen poetry, song lyrics and stunning images from photographer Daniyel Lowden.”dropping in to announce the birth of MY FIRST EVER PUBLISHED BOOK “The Magic Border: Poetry and Fragments from My Soft Machine”.

https://t.co/KwhWpSUiag pic.twitter.com/nQCx01SwcY— Arlo Parks (@arloparks) June 13, 2023The book will consist of 20 original poems, which explore “the queer experience, Blackness, grief, trauma and love”, and the complete lyrics from ‘My Soft Machine’.“Writing poetry, to me, is about profound interiority,” said Parks. “It is about wading into the saltwater of your own body, capillaries bursting, eyes brimming, unmoored.”“This collection is the fruit of that inner probing.

It is a tangled mass of everything that has made me angry or giddy or low or impossibly happy to be alive. It has taken me almost 23 years to share my poetry beyond a few trusted friends.