Katy Evans-Bush is running a competition over at Baroque in Hackney, referencing Edward Gorey’s Gashlycrumb tinies.
They remind me of Tim Burton’s The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy collection, which I always found disturbing and compelling in a similar way. I think much of the power in both cases comes from the illustrations.
Here’s The Boy with Nails in His Eyes, for example:
The Boy with Nails in his Eyes
put up his aluminium tree.
It looked pretty strange
because he couldn’t really see.
– Tim Burton
Anyhow, go write a rhyme for Katy!
The illustrations are compelling, aren’t they? Very clever – and grotesque.
they have sticking power – kind of icky, but potent