Skendong Poetry
Clunky Narratives
An experimental poetry archive from Manchester
Welcome to Skendong Poetry, an experimental poetry website and the original home of The Candid Verse. This archive explores Clunky Narratives — poems that show their seams on purpose, metamorphosing as they go: lines refuse to settle, the rhythm deliberately falters, and the register shifts because the subject itself won’t stay still.
The philosophy behind the work
Clunky Narratives challenges the expectation that poetry must always be smooth, polished, or predictable. The writing uses friction, unusual structures, and unexpected shifts in voice — a register that can lurch from biblical prophecy to internet satire within a single stanza.
An unconventional approach to modern poetry
Many poetry websites favour polished, consistent forms. Skendong is not that. It is an assault on reigning rhetorical excesses — moralising, chaotic, and carving out room for genuine experimental expression.
Exploring the Clunky Narratives archive
A growing archive examining memory, identity, society, and the human condition. Ancoats corner shops and canal-side wine bars, a rogue AI escaping its sandbox, a headline from Gaza — tracing how overlooked moments and forgotten causes develop into unpredictable creative effects.
An ad-free space for literary exploration
For poetry lovers, experimental writers, and readers drawn to alternative literary forms — original writing since 2012 in an ad-free space with no sponsors or products. Built around the Clunky Narratives framework, which continues to shift and evolve.
