Bar Codes for Spring

Bar codes for Spring is a hard hitting poetry collection by cult spoken-word performer, Rodney Relax. Emerging from the DIY ethos of the late-1970s punk scene in Fife, Relax first made his mark in underground music performing with The Alternative, releasing a single, 'In Nomine Patri' on the Crass label. After that band's demise, Relax turned his focus to the written word. By the early 1990s he was part of the creative force surrounding the influential Scottish countercultural magazine Rebel Inc, alongside a new wave of radical writers transforming the literary landscape - Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Sandie Craigie et al -

Often described as "Edinburgh's punk poet legend", Relax has delivered innovative performances everywhere from the Bongo Club to Leith Dockers Club, frequently blending poetry with film, music, and multimedia. His darkly comic, unvarnished writing has gained a devoted following. Relax has also performed with the acclaimed Edinburgh arts collective Neu! Reekie!, founded by poets, Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson, whose live shows and festivals have brought contemporary poetry to international audiences.

Gathering poems shaped by decades of performance and underground publishing, Bar Codes for Spring captures the restless energy, humour and defiant spirit of one of Scotland's most distinctive poetic voices.