Swan & Shadow Press specialises in producing poem sequences that are characterised by
innovation with form, striking visual imagery and allusiveness.
The press is run by Leon Cych, who founded ‘Poetry London’ in the late 1980s, and Mark Wyatt, who first attended Leon’s poetry group ‘N10 Poets’ in 1982.
Both poets were widely published in magazines in the1980s, for example Leon in Literary Review, Pennine Platform, Poetry Ireland Review, TLS, Mark in Ambit, Iron, New Statesman, PN Review.
They were both published in Litmus, North Magazine, Poetry Durham, Poetry Nottingham, Rialto.
Leon’s poetry draws on inspiration from Guillevic’s ‘Geometries’ via the Martian school of
poetry and with nods to tales of transformation, Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, folk tales, fables,
philosophy and surrealism.
Mark’s poetry draws inspiration from the Martian school, Imagism, metaphysical poetry, Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, and the approach to producing pattern poetry developed by John Hollander in the 1960s. The name of this press is a nod to Hollander’s most famous pattern poem: ‘Swan and Shadow’.
Books produced by Swan & Shadow Press so far include:
Imps of Fancy by Leon Cych (58 pages) ISBN: 9781065464631
Africa and Other Shape Poems by Mark Wyatt (42 pages) ISBN: 9781065464600
After Ovid’s Metamorphoses: 60 Pattern Poems by Mark Wyatt (69 pages) ISBN:
9781065464617
Genesis Meets The Dinosaurs and Other Pattern Poems by Mark Wyatt (54 pages) ISBN:
9781065464624
We are interested in publishing books and chapbooks or pamphlets of poetry that has the
following characteristics:
- Technically innovative while also conscious of form
- Visually stimulating
- Allusive and tending at times towards erudite
- Coherently sequential in organisation