Shadows and Light – review of Julia Copus, Rebecca Goss and Niall Campbell The Poetry Review, summer 2019 It’s apt that Julia Copus who invented the ‘specular’ poem – where the second stanza of a poem reverses the lines of the first becoming a mirror image – should spot something compellingly reflective of her concerns … Continued
Tightrope Songs – review of Sinéad Morrissey, Michael Symmons Roberts, JL Williams The Poetry Review, winter 2017 Sinéad Morrissey’s exhilarating new collection, On Balance, is inspired by things that defy gravity – trapeze artists, feats of engineering, flight. The book encompasses carrier pigeons, aeroplanes and acrobats. What is so gratifying about the volume is just … Continued
Review: 40 Sonnets – Don Paterson Review by Ellen Cranitch When, in 1621, Lady Mary Wroth wrote her sonnet In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn.., she could have been speaking for Don Paterson. Paterson has spent more time than most in that selfsame sonnet-labyrinth, navigating its contours and sounding its depths. His own … Continued
What Makes It Necessary? Ellen Cranitch on recent pamphlets Alan Jenkins, Paper-Money Lyrics, Grey Suit Isabel Palmer, Ground Signs, Flarestack Katrina Naomi, Hooligans, Rack Mark Fiddes, The Chelsea Flower Show Massacre, Templar Gale Burns, Opal Eye, Eyewear Jaqueline Saphra, If I Lay on my Back I Saw Nothing but Naked Women, Emma The peculiar endorsement … Continued
Matters of Form Ellen Cranitch on pamphlets, chapbooks and smaller collections from independent presses Claire Crowther, Mollicle, Nine Arches Ross Sutherland, Twelve Nudes, Penned in the Margins Alasdair Paterson, Brumaire and Later, Flarestack Poets Paul McLoughlin, The Road to Murreigh, Shoestring Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Water the Moon, Marick Press Anthony Cronin, The Fall, New Island In … Continued
Magic and Accident Ellen Cranitch on some independent poetic talents. Michael Murphy, Collected Poems, Shoestring Chris Emery, Departure, Salt Graham Mort, Cusp, Seren Peter Daniels, Counting Eggs, Mulfran Lucy Hamilton, Stalker, Shearsman It’s rare to open a volume of poetry and instantly know not only that this is what poetry is, but also that this … Continued
Holding Hands with the Dead Ellen Cranitch on Poetry Of Remembrance SEAN O’BRIEN November Picador TAMAR YOSELOFF The City with Horns Salt SUSAN WICKS House of Tongues Bloodaxe November: the month of the dead, of Remembrance Day. Wet leaves, chill air, fog. This word’s particular music – long vowel, lingering consonants – pervaded Sean O’Brien’s … Continued