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Three pamphlets reviewed by Richie McCaffery
Richie McCaffery It is apt that John Greening recently edited the Carcanet selection of Iain Crichton Smith’s poems. There’s an anecdote that does the rounds in Scottish […]
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‘In the Mountains of the Monédières, by the Green Waters of the Vienne’ – a poem by Hilary Davies
© Hilary Davies In the Mountains of the Monédières, by the Green Waters of the Vienne In the mountains of the Monédières I sat by […]
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‘Love’s Arrow’ – a translation of Chaucer
© Morgan Library, New York The below is a translation by Mark McGuinness of a section of Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poem re-telling, in Middle […]
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‘Cleaning the Big House’ – a poem by Martyn Crucefix
Photo by Anna Kukhareva on Unsplash Cleaning the Big House Norfolk, England, 2030 It was the English woman Veronica Berridge who let […]
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Pushing her own boundaries: on Alison Brackenbury’s ‘Thorpeness’
Matthew Stewart Alison Brackenbury’s new collection, Thorpeness (Carcanet Press, 2022), provides a perfect rebuttal to Larkin’s notorious disavowal of a poet’s obligation to develop. This might […]
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‘Salmon Farm Blues’ – a poem by Andrew McNeillie
Photo by Datingscout on Unsplash Andrew McNeillie’s New and Collected poems, Striking a Match in a Storm, is published this week by Carcanet. There will be an online […]
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‘Hijrah’ – a poem by Imad Khan
Photo by Steve McSkudder on Unsplash Hijrah* I’ve been here and there looking for my Promised Land hearing sweet voices through the wall and the sound […]
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‘The Waterspout’ – a translation of Luis Vaz de Camões
The below is a translation by Mark McGuinness of a section of Os Lusíadas (‘The Luciads’), an epic poem by the 16th-century Portuguese poet Luis Vaz de Camões (c. […]
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‘On Wenlock Edge the wood’s in trouble’: reading A. E. Housman
Nell Prince I partially recall A Shropshire Lad’s thirty-first poem, ‘On Wenlock Edge the wood’s in trouble’, because it’s in a cinematic adaptation of Alan Bennet’s […]
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Two poems by Tamiko Dooley
Photo by S. Tsuchiya on Unsplash Susumu The sun beat down on Tokyo intensely: Forty-five in the shade. The matsu tree Stretched out across Susumu’s […]
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Two poems by Patrick Davidson Roberts
Photo by Javier Balseiro on Unsplash Caiaphas I am content with what I have done in my time, and have little to alter. You fit […]
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Two poems by Bernard Pearson
Photo by Simon Godfrey on Unsplash Manor Farm, Gotherington The walls stooped Under the weight of age. Windows frowned From gables Out towards Wicked, old, […]
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Three poems by Rebecca Farmer
The Dark Self 12, Susan Aldworth, 2017, monoprint, 56 x 76 cms. Image courtesy of the artist and Guy’s Hospital, London. susanaldworth.com At the sleep disorders […]
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Three poems by William Thompson
Photo by Jinen Shah on Unsplash Farm Work Your first car catches heat like a tin roof, white clouds snag on the barbed wire of […]
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‘Saree’: a poem by Sambhu R.
Photo by soumya parthasarathy on Unsplash Saree Mother gathers the folds of her old chiffon saree around her shoulders like a little girl playing […]
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‘Lest We Forget’: a poem by John Seymour
Photo by Metin Ozer on Unsplash The below poem won first prize in the SSA (Soldiers’ Arts Academy) International Poetry Competition 2021. Lest We Forget Who now will speak for […]
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In Defence of Inspiration
Photo by Rohan Makhecha on Unsplash Sarah Fletcher I want to start with an anecdote: I was at the pub after a poetry reading in London. I […]
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‘Bitter Hops’: a poem by Lucy Holme
Oasthouse cowls, Sissinghurst, Kent Bitter Hops I am the end of a Kent summer, the careful cutting of the bine. I return to pluck a […]
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‘Flat’: a poem by Tim Relf
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Flat The new floors, kitchen and bathroom, I can just about cope with. I’m fine with the built-in bookshelves and […]
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Two poems by D. R. James
Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash Rec Rugby, 195 Years Later* — for Maggie Current version of the original — (plump ovoid freshly plucked […]