Pamphlets/Chapbooks
The Red Ceilings Press: A crocodile, out of nowhere
‘James Roome weaves a Lynchian world in which characters act in ways that appear unhinged and gruesome to us but are, on the surface at least, entirely normal to them. Horrors are passed off as banal, committed in broad daylight, and everybody shrugs. An arsonist uses his own body to make fire, an investigation is launched into the death of goats, and something grey is most definitely following you. The poems are reminiscent of point & click adventure games in the exactness of their scenarios and the detached mannerisms of their protagonists, leaving us with no guiding certainty of how to feel. Eyeballs may be falling, but the landscape is pocketed with ‘magical campfires’ of beauty.’
Matthew Haigh
‘A crocodile, out of nowhere’ is a wonderfully strange pamphlet, seeming to operate at odds with reality, bearing a diverse bundle of influences, from Cortázar and Confucius, to Selima Hill and Luke Kennard. ‘A crocodile…’ is the work of a top-class, seriously silly, poetic imagination. Essential reading.’
charlie bayliss
The Red Ceilings Press: Bull, or Conversations with the Great Painter
“The first time I read Bull it was as a quick and enjoyable ten minute read, and ‘quick and enjoyable’ doesn’t happen very often with poems, and I wish it did. The second time I read it I managed to spill a glass of red wine everywhere, so scrub that one. Third time around I found myself reading a poet in conversation with himself, a conversation of exploration and enquiry and still, thank goodness, enjoyable. This may, of course, be a wholehearted misreading, but the best poems can be misread and yet still yield good things, and then surprise you the fourth time around.” Martin Stannard
Bull establishes an alternative reality. One in which a Bull can be an artist and costume designer. One in which a Bull can act as a guide for a man who is profoundly lost.
“From its opening lines, you won’t be able to put Bull down until you reach the end. A fabulously funny and oddly moving first collection. It reads like Ted Hughes crossed with James Tate, but James Roome has a distinctive voice all his own. It is a voice which promises great things to come.” Ian Seed
“James Roome’s Bull is both distinctive and oddly seductive. Bull is his own person, and when you’re with him it’s hard to leave for anywhere else. I thought of Ed Dorn’sGunslinger and Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, but both shot through with a humour all its own. Mostly, though, I thought of Bull, and how much he had gotten inside me. This is a wonderful book.” Nikolai Duffy
Selected Publications in Magazines/Anthologies
Anthropocene: two poems ‘from supermundane doormat’ https://www.anthropocenepoetry.org/post/2-poems-by-james-roome
Tentacular 6: ‘Fathers’ https://www.tentacularmag.com/issue-6-c/james-roome
Hit Points, an anthology of video game poetry from Broken Sleep: ‘type:gomorrah’ https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/hit-points-an-anthology-of-video-game-poetry
iamb, poetry seen and heard: part of wave two, three poems https://www.iambapoet.com/james-roome
The University of Hertfordshire Single Poem Prize (Second Place): ‘Fairground’ https://www.herts.ac.uk/study/schools-of-study/humanities/subject-areas/study-our-subjects-with/creative-writing/poetry-hub/poetry-competition/second-place-2019
Anthropocene: ‘Respawn’ https://www.anthropocenepoetry.org/post/respawn-by-james-roome
Tears in the Fence 71: ‘A study has shown’, ‘Poem for my husband, who does not exist’, ‘Confessional’.
Tears in the Fence 61: ‘The Silent Finger’. A sequence of poems after Rene Magritte’s ‘The Pleasure Principle’. https://tearsinthefence.com/2015/03/12/tears-in-the-fence-61/
Magma 61 (The Street): ‘Neighbours’ https://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-61/poems/neighbours-2/
Wordlife Anthology featuring over 50 writers, including the likes of Helen Mort, Andrew McMillan, Hollie McNish, Lemn Sissay, Simon Munnery and Buddy Wakefield. http://weareopus.org/product/wordlife-anthology/
James Roome Poetry 