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‘V.E. Day’: a poem by Sally Festing
V.E. Day in Selwyn Road, Cambridge. Author pictured in back row, third from the left. V.E. Day She holds a finger to her chin. Flowers bind […]
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On ‘Summer/Break’ by Richie McCaffery
Declan Ryan Richie McCaffery’s third collection, Summer/Break (Shoestring, 2022), is one of quiet peril. Everywhere one looks there is a quest, however forlorn, for salvation, a desperation […]
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On ‘Central Air’ by George Bilgere
Neil Elder In America, George Bilgere is widely published and revered, winner of a Pushcart Prize and a regular in many of the best journals. How his work […]
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Three poems by Camille Francois
Photo by Mediocre Studio on Unsplash She puts away childish things Early mornings – I would turn no light on, open no curtain, and […]
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Three translations of Osip Mandelstam
Alistair Noon writes: Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938) grew up in St. Petersburg and published his first book, Stone, in 1913. One more volume followed before he began encountering publishing […]
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‘Not Harlem but Close’: a poem by Idman Omar
Photo by Ben Allan on Unsplash Not Harlem but Close The place that produced me was heavy as the heavens. Its tiger tooth pinched monthly, […]
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‘Aged’: a poem by Stuart Henson
Aged I’m thinking again of Gallagher’s strat. You can’t get that sweated scrubbed-out look from a custom shop, and you can’t cheat it down […]
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‘Silence’: a poem by Jack Houston
Photo by bennoptic on Unsplash Silence A squirrel scampers the wall of the nature reserve In this idyll I’m not sure I fully deserve, […]
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Two poems by Tim Scott
The Form of an Armoured Car (Belfast, 1977) A Saracen’s squat tonnage shudders through the lines of flat-faced houses. Its heartbeat pulses on their […]
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On ‘Hollow Palaces: An Anthology of Modern Country House Poems’
Rishi Dastidar An odd place to start but bear with. The Fence, a new-ish, waggish magazine (think Private Eye meets Popbitch) shared the following snippet in a […]
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‘Landskein’: a poem by Jenny Pagdin
Photo by Dagmara Dombrovska on Unsplash Landskein The hut tilted and in came the tide, gathering jars and books from my shelves – but it […]
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‘Two Visions’ – a translation from the Estonian of Mathura
Below is an English version of the two-part poem ‘Kaks nägemust’ (‘Two Visions’) by the Estonian poet, Mathura. Winner of the Gustav Suits Poetry Award and other literary prizes […]
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‘Gothic’: a poem by Mark Wynne
‘The Nightmare’ by John Henry Fuseli, oil on canvas, 1781 Gothic Where are you now? At the first flush of dawn everything pitched with […]
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On ‘The Sleep Road’ by Stewart Sanderson
Matthew Stewart In his first full collection, The Sleep Road (Tapsalterie, 2022), Stewart Sanderson addresses several issues that are currently popular among many poets of his generation: […]
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‘Church Crawling’: a poem by John Greening
Fotheringhay © Kevin Gardner Church Crawling for Kevin Gardner Leighton Bromswold Yes, locked, of course. And once we find the key it’s comically huge, […]
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‘Ballad of the Outer Life’: from the German of Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Below is a translation by James Owens of the poem ‘Ballade des äußeren Lebens’ by the Austrian poet, novelist and essayist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). Stefan Zweig wrote […]
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Two poems by Hamish Whyte
Photo by Michael Mahood on Unsplash From the Sea-window The tide’s going out. The heron stalks the rock pools. A dunlin picks its way through […]
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‘Window in the Rock’ – a poem by Lucy Dixcart
Andrea Sonda on Unsplash Window in the Rock When you glimpse it you’re crammed into a floating bathtub with a teenage boy at the […]
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A statement for the importance of poems in a life: on Jonathan Davidson’s ‘A Commonplace’
Daniel Bennett A sense of place abounds in Jonathan Davidson’s A Commonplace (Smith-Doorstep, 2020), and while that might seem natural from the title, the ‘place’ here derives […]
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‘Zaban i urdu’ – a poem by Amaan Hyder
Harry Grout on Unsplash Zaban i urdu Zaban i urdu, meaning language of the camp. In Urdu, here is idher or yahan. There is udher […]