Description
Artisanal Slush is an attempt to transcribe the algorithms that make up a self, whatever that means in the early 21st-century. Ellora Sutton leans unapologetically into the things that bring her joy, her obsessions – from Taylor Swift to John Keats, from Jurassic Park to Hildegard of Bingen’s cosmic vulva via Animal Crossing and fanfiction coffee shop AUs. Sutton is a poet at play, out to celebrate the endless possibility of living whilst, still, looking for something like a happy ending. Or at least a bundle of cheap rhubarb and a homemade scone. And an answer to the age-old question: Pepsi or Coca-Cola?
‘Witness Ellora Sutton’s wild dreaming in Artisanal Slush. Like flint, Sutton’s voice has been honed to the sharpest point, but unmistakable craft doesn’t weigh down her soaring imagination. Playfulness is the glue that holds these pages together. Artisanal Slush is the work of an artist who is never afraid to try something new.’ Jack Cooper
‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for Ellora Sutton’s poems. This stunning pamphlet is alive with crackling wit, irreverence, innovative forms, pop culture playfulness, and a sincere and tender heart. From Jurassic Park to The Sims, generative AI to childhood Game Boys, Sutton’s range is delightful. Part “screwball comedy”, part love letters from “in-game messaging” systems, part AU wild dreams, these lyrical poems deftly weave together nostalgic video games and movie references in surprising, exhilarating ways.’ Cynthia Miller
‘Ellora Sutton’s Artisanal Slush is just that, a dazzling neon blitz through girlhood and technology, eco anxiety and romance. Sutton skillfully handles an eclectic mix of references from Hildegard of Bingen to Animal Crossing. Her mastery of language sharp use of irony make this a perfectly made pamphlet, you won’t want to miss it.’ Phoebe Stuckes
‘Absurdity and play are organising principles in Sutton’s Artisanal Slush, highlighting the awkwardness of connection and the clumsy art of identity as it forms and reforms in a posthuman era, becoming a mediocre imitation of its own pulp. What do Animal Crossing, Jurassic Park, and Bronze Age Petersfield have in common? Very little, except under Sutton’s excavating and accumulating eye, which shuttles between the existential tension of Facebook ads and the power dynamics of archaeological practice with admirable ease. Frequently, Sutton demonstrates a flair for humour – ‘there is nothing more Dada than rhubarb’ – intertwined with brazen tenderness: ‘Bruise me / into a gospel of consent, a manifesto on healing’. Who cares if life is a simulation, as long as it is glitching to the beat of My Chemical Romance. How can we hate our machines for spying on us, when at least they remember the plot of our favourite fanfic. In Artisanal Slush, we find a daring, adventurous voice, whose wit and wisdom offer solid ground on which to base our explorations of personhood in the twenty-first century.’ Isabelle Baafi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ellora Sutton (she/her) is a prize-winning poet and museum person based in Hampshire. Her work has been published in The Poetry Review, The North, Oxford Poetry, bath magg, and Propel, amongst others. She is also the poetry reviewer for Mslexia. Her previous pamphlet, Antonyms for Burial (Fourteen Poems, 2022), was the Spring 2023 Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. You can find her at ellorasutton.com.
