The sixth edition of this series is a pantheon of contemporary female poets. The book opens with Claudia Rankine. Through her poems we accompany a series of women as they navigate racism, the strange intimacy of pregnancy and the difficulties facing women who choose to step from the expected path of motherhood. The poems hereContinue reading “Penguin Modern Poets 6”
Tag Archives: poetry review
‘Better than God: Peter Porter
This was the last collection Porter published before his death – which means it’s no surprise that mortality is very much at the forefront. However, it’s not a maudlin collection – there’s enough humour here to give balance to the levity of the subject matter. The short opening poem ‘Better than God’ opens the collectionContinue reading “‘Better than God: Peter Porter”
Citadel: Martha Sprackland
The thing that really stood out in Sprackland’s debut was the sense of cohesion. The first poem ‘Poached Eggs on Toast’ creates images and motifs that are carried through the collection – eggs and yolks appear in many poems. The second and third poems form a mini sequence exploring Sprackland’s memory of being hit onContinue reading “Citadel: Martha Sprackland”
A Man’s House Catches Fire – Review
Tom Sastry’s debut collection thrusts the reader into a world wrapped in deadpan metaphors. The opening poem ‘A Man’s House Catches Fire’ sets the tone as self-deprecating from the outset with the lines: “I thought the smell of smoke was just me going off my head which I have learned to expect.” The poem endsContinue reading “A Man’s House Catches Fire – Review”
Review: Julia Webb’s ‘Threat’
This second collection from Julia Webb is published by the fantastic Nine Arches Press. Consisting of four sections, the reader is thrown into a world of violence, loss and family expertly examined with an unflinching eye. In the first section, ‘Body of evidence’ the poems have a sinister tinge, rooted in the physical. The openingContinue reading “Review: Julia Webb’s ‘Threat’”
Reviewed: The Protection of Ghosts, Natalie Linh Bolderston
The poems in this debut pamphlet are filled with ghosts – not ‘physical’ ghosts, but the ghosts of the past that live in the present through inter-generational stories and experiences. Natalie Linh Bolderston weaves a haunting tapestry of trauma, exile, cultural legacy and loss in poems that examine the scars left by the atrocities ofContinue reading “Reviewed: The Protection of Ghosts, Natalie Linh Bolderston”
Louise McStravick, How to Make Curry Goat: Review
Louise McStravick’s collection explodes into the reader’s consciousness, seducing with vibrant, colourful imagery while also shining a light on life on society’s fringes. The opening poem ‘Just another road in Erdington’ sets the tone, filled with vernacular phrases and talk of prisons, arson and drug addiction that was the backdrop to childhood. From the outset,Continue reading “Louise McStravick, How to Make Curry Goat: Review”
Racheal Boast, Void Studies: Review
There is so much movement in this collection of beautiful vignettes, whether through the physical movement of the characters in the poems or the movement of the elements that meander through the poems. From the opening line “Late night like unopened letters” it feels that these are secrets whispered to the reader, elusive and illusory,Continue reading “Racheal Boast, Void Studies: Review”
Thomas McColl, Grenade Genie: Review
From the opening poem, it’s clear that this collection is an unwaveringly close examination of the modern world, its landscapes and its politics.It moves from the fresh and interesting descriptions of “buses are bison and people are grass” (‘No Longer Quite so Sure’) to the didactic “You’ve made a pact with the digital devil” (‘TheContinue reading “Thomas McColl, Grenade Genie: Review”
Fiona Benson, Vertigo and Ghost: Review
Vertigo and Ghost is Fiona Benson’s second collection and the winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2019.. I was bowled over by Bright Traveller, falling in love with the way she weaves the natural world with human experience in a way that feels both warming yet sinister. I love the immediacy ofContinue reading “Fiona Benson, Vertigo and Ghost: Review”
Nicola Heaney 