Chris York: Where Poetry, Art and Imagination Refuse to Behave

Meet the poet, artist and writer whose work doesn't always tell you what to think

There are poets who carefully explain what their poems mean.

And then there is Chris York.

Chris is the kind of creative who seems quite happy to leave the door open, let the reader walk through it, and decide for themselves what they have found.

That is one of the things that makes Chris York such an interesting part of the MAPublisher and Penny Authors family.

He is not simply a poet. Penny Authors describes him as Poet | Writer | Artist | Video — a combination that says rather more about Chris than a conventional author biography ever could.

His work moves between poetry, writing, visual creativity and video, and his approach can be eccentric, playful, unexpected and, at times, deliberately difficult to pin down.

And perhaps that is precisely the point.

A Penny Author from the beginning

Chris York has been part of the Penny Authors journey for several years.

His poetry appeared in the Penny Authors anthologies, including Book Six, Book Seven and Book Eight, where his poems included titles such as Paranoid Hospital Ward, Water Is Bad for Your Wealth, The Meat Draw (Fourth Prize), Shore Thoughts, So This Is Us, The News, Injustice, Pig Ignorant, An Equation, Disaster, Unjust Desserts, Sit in Silence, Elementary, Polystyrene Hairstyle and I Don't Think So.

That list alone gives you a flavour of Chris.

The titles don't necessarily sit politely beside one another.

They provoke curiosity.

They make you wonder what on earth the poem is going to be about.

And then, sometimes, the poem takes you somewhere entirely different.

Chris was also included in the wider Book of Lived anthology project, where his name appears among the writers whose lived experiences and creative voices have been brought together through Penny Authors.

Penny Authors has always been about giving writers a place at the table — not demanding that every voice sound the same.

Chris certainly doesn't.

From poems to books

For MAPublisher, working with Chris has meant more than simply putting a collection of poems between two covers.

It has meant recognising that Chris's creativity doesn't necessarily fit into one conventional box.

His first MAPublisher collection, The Poet's Proof, brings together writing reaching back to 1996 and continuing into the present. The book grew out of friendship, memories, humour and the passing of time, including the memory of Chris's friend Rod. MAPublisher describes the collection as humorous, heartfelt and rooted in everyday life.

There is something wonderfully appropriate about the way the book came into existence.

A poet walks into a pub.

A drink becomes another drink.

Another drink becomes another thought.

And suddenly — why not write a book?

It is not exactly the conventional route into publishing.

But then, this is Chris York.

The Scribblings & Dribblings

And then comes The Scribblings & Dribblings.

Even the title refuses to behave like a conventional poetry collection.

Published by MAPublisher and available through Lulu, the book is a 58-page square-format paperback, published on 28 July 2024. It combines Chris's writing and visual creativity rather than presenting itself simply as a conventional poetry book.

But what makes the book particularly interesting is Chris's invitation to the reader.

The book deliberately doesn't insist that there is one correct interpretation.

Instead, the reader is invited to consider what a title suggests to them — whether they encounter a drawing, painting, poem, essay, short story or even a blank space.

That makes The Scribblings & Dribblings rather more than something to read.

It becomes something to experience.

And perhaps even something to scribble in.

Or dribble in.

Or completely misunderstand.

And Chris might be perfectly happy with that.

"What does it mean?"

That is probably the wrong question to ask Chris's work.

A better question might be:

"What does it mean to me?"

Because Chris has created something where the reader is allowed to bring their own imagination into the room.

A painting might trigger a memory.

A strange title might create a story.

A poem might make perfect sense one day and absolutely no sense the next.

A few words might remind you of something that happened twenty years ago.

That freedom is part of the attraction.

Chris doesn't appear to be trying to produce poetry that behaves itself.

He is exploring what happens when words, images, ideas and imagination are allowed to collide.

And then there is the video...

Chris is also part of the video side of the Penny Authors project.

Penny Authors' own author directory identifies him as a video contributor alongside his roles as poet, writer and artist.

That matters because poetry doesn't always have to remain on the printed page.

Hearing a poet perform their own work changes the experience.

The pauses matter.

The voice matters.

The expression matters.

Sometimes the person behind the poem tells you something the printed words don't.

Penny Authors has supported Chris in bringing his poetry into that visual and spoken space, giving his work another way of reaching an audience.

Why MAPublisher?

At MAPublisher, we don't believe every writer needs to fit a publishing template.

Some writers arrive with neatly organised manuscripts.

Others arrive with poems.

Others arrive with paintings.

Others arrive with an idea that doesn't quite have a name yet.

Chris York is somewhere in that wonderfully unpredictable territory.

His work is a reminder of why independent publishing matters.

A publisher can provide the structure needed to create a book without taking away the character of the person who created it.

And with Chris, character is very much part of the package.

Two books. One very individual voice.

If you are discovering Chris York for the first time, there are two MAPublisher books that provide a good introduction:

The Poet's Proof

A humorous and heartfelt collection reaching across nearly three decades of Chris's writing, with friendship, memory, everyday observations and loss woven through the poems.

The Scribblings & Dribblings

A much more experimental proposition — part poetry, part writing, part visual creativity and part invitation for the reader to make their own connections. Lulu's description makes that reader participation central to the concept.

Together, the two books show two sides of Chris York.

One looks back.

The other opens the door and says:

Come in. See what you make of it.

Chris York — definitely not one to put in a box

There are plenty of books in the world that tell you exactly what they are.

Chris York's work is more likely to ask you a question.

And that is why we are pleased at MAPublisher to continue championing his work.

From his early Penny Authors appearances to his poetry recitals, from anthology pages to his own published collections, Chris has developed a creative identity that is unmistakably his own.

Poet. Writer. Artist. Video.

And, perhaps most importantly:

Chris York.

You can explore Chris's work through the Penny Authors archive and discover his published books through MAPublisher.

Discover Chris York's books

The Scribblings & Dribblings on Lulu

The Poet's Proof at MAPublisher

Chris York's Penny Authors profile

MAPublisher — championing writers, poets, artists and the creative voices that don't always fit neatly into a box.