My Circumoccupation by Poppy Jean
From the intrusive fascination with road-killed animals to the accumulation of unfinished texts, My Circumoccupation maps a journey from the straight line of paranoia toward an arc of repair.
Presented as a visceral, lyrical essay that intuits the heavy anticipation of motherhood, Poppy Jean traces the architecture of preoccupation through the ink-and-string methodologies of Renee Gladman and Eva Hesse, building a bridge between obsession and form.
Weaving a constellation of brilliant critical and literary voices—from Sianne Ngai to Dodie Bellamy—Jean’s collection addresses the emotional debris left behind by obsessive prospection and resists neat conclusions, embracing instead a new and rigorous literary voice that reaches toward the infinite, restless pursuit of knowing.
“‘I began my preoccupation by imagining my life as a horizontal line,’ writes Poppy Jean, thinking with syntax as a form of autobiographical writing. My Circumoccupation keeps asking us to consider what can be collated, or observed in advance of the life that’s about to be lived, or that was already lived. But also, how do we prepare for the unknown, reductive or obliterating event that’s already here? That the limit of these questions is also a clump makes this book of poetry an inter-medial tour de force, something that gestures as much as much as it makes.”
– Bhanu Kapil, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
“My Circumoccupation presents language as a string, a line, an intestine from which to fold into. The guttural recess of mothering affect their elegant prose as it weaves from personal reflections, philosophical quandaries, and art criticism to pull at the essence of creating life, or at the very least, to create something of a facsimile.”
— Elida Silvey, author of The Wrong Shade of Red
Released November 2026
Poppy Jean (they/them) is a writer based in London. My Circumoccupation is their first book.
Rooted in a mission to challenge the exclusivity of traditional publishing, Worms actively seeks to el-
evate writers whose work exists at the intersections of multiple identities and lived experiences. This
includes those shaped by class, race, cultural background, disability, and gender. By fostering a vibrant
and inclusive literary community—both in London and beyond—we not only provide a platform for un-
derrepresented voices but also work to redefine the literary landscape itself, ensuring it reflects the
richness and complexity of the world we live in.
Publication date: 12 November 2026
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-0369-7641-5
150 X 228mm | 130 Pages
From the intrusive fascination with road-killed animals to the accumulation of unfinished texts, My Circumoccupation maps a journey from the straight line of paranoia toward an arc of repair.
Presented as a visceral, lyrical essay that intuits the heavy anticipation of motherhood, Poppy Jean traces the architecture of preoccupation through the ink-and-string methodologies of Renee Gladman and Eva Hesse, building a bridge between obsession and form.
Weaving a constellation of brilliant critical and literary voices—from Sianne Ngai to Dodie Bellamy—Jean’s collection addresses the emotional debris left behind by obsessive prospection and resists neat conclusions, embracing instead a new and rigorous literary voice that reaches toward the infinite, restless pursuit of knowing.
“‘I began my preoccupation by imagining my life as a horizontal line,’ writes Poppy Jean, thinking with syntax as a form of autobiographical writing. My Circumoccupation keeps asking us to consider what can be collated, or observed in advance of the life that’s about to be lived, or that was already lived. But also, how do we prepare for the unknown, reductive or obliterating event that’s already here? That the limit of these questions is also a clump makes this book of poetry an inter-medial tour de force, something that gestures as much as much as it makes.”
– Bhanu Kapil, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
“My Circumoccupation presents language as a string, a line, an intestine from which to fold into. The guttural recess of mothering affect their elegant prose as it weaves from personal reflections, philosophical quandaries, and art criticism to pull at the essence of creating life, or at the very least, to create something of a facsimile.”
— Elida Silvey, author of The Wrong Shade of Red
Released November 2026
Poppy Jean (they/them) is a writer based in London. My Circumoccupation is their first book.
Rooted in a mission to challenge the exclusivity of traditional publishing, Worms actively seeks to el-
evate writers whose work exists at the intersections of multiple identities and lived experiences. This
includes those shaped by class, race, cultural background, disability, and gender. By fostering a vibrant
and inclusive literary community—both in London and beyond—we not only provide a platform for un-
derrepresented voices but also work to redefine the literary landscape itself, ensuring it reflects the
richness and complexity of the world we live in.
Publication date: 12 November 2026
Published in the UK by Worms Publishing
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-0369-7641-5
150 X 228mm | 130 Pages