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‘Siena 1978’: a poem by Bernard O’Donoghue
Siena 1978 ‘the red-haired girl from Palaeography’ The photograph was taken when the sun broke throughAnd shone on the copper red of her hairAs we sat in the Piazza del […]
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Toughness & tenderness: on ‘Crisis Actor’ by Declan Ryan
John Fuller How can we be prepared for all the difficult life-choices we may have to make? It’s a commonplace that there can be no rehearsal for life, since life […]
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‘The Ghost of Emily Hale Replies to T. S. Eliot’: a poem by Nicola Healey
The Ghost of Emily Hale Replies to T. S. Eliot ‘I see myself as a blood-sucker’– T. S. Eliot, in a letter to Emily Hale (2 August 1934) Our posthumous […]
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Wisdom joined with simplicity: on Andrew Motion’s New & Selected
Patrick Davidson Roberts It’s been twenty-five years since Andrew Motion’s first Selected Poems was published by Faber & Faber and for him personally, and for the world, a lot has […]
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‘What the Arborist Saw’: a poem by Audrey Molloy
What the Arborist Saw A cat, among the finches, the sparrows and the wrens.A cat, stuck, in the highest fork of a sycamorethe afternoon he scooped her in one fluidmovement […]
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The death-drive and the drive to self-indetermination in Sylvia Plath’s ‘Ariel’
Bethany Smith If death is seen to be the ultimate fear of the human psyche, the subject is faced with two options — to find any means necessary to escape […]
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‘Ghost and Chrome’: a poem by Nicholas Hogg
Ghost and Chrome I wanted a life like a burning comet, and got an engine fireon the Nullaboor Plain. I was riding at the heart of Australia,the red dirt towns […]
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Three poems by Dina Kafiris
Maria Dear old man, why do you sit alonereflecting on a war fought long ago on the young girlwho spent with you those last few daysleaving you with the promise […]
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‘Arctic’: a poem by Christian Ward
Arctic The first time you tasted chemotherapy,there were no side effects apart from an Arcticchill turning your lips blue like the wiryhospital blanket you wrapped yourself in. You shivered the […]
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‘Football in the marshes’: a poem by Nikos Keim
Football in the marshes Bright green from the black earthAs the teams in their primary coloursMove like tides across the luscious turfCries sharpen on the cold airAnd I pass, wishing […]
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‘The Little One’: a poem by Idman Omar
The Little One is a madam, is more parrotthan fluffy bunny, more myselfclotted. Is the drink of the sky, thevisitor of my life. Wakes my metal heart withgaping cries and […]
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Two poems by Anthony White
The Ungodly Hour of the Morning …comes later now than then.When my mother hissed from the top of the stairs“I told you to be home by tenI’ve been worried sick”, […]
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‘Worshipping at the Shrine of Artemis’: a poem by Saul Levene
Worshipping at the Shrine of Artemis, the Hunter You kneel in the underbrush clutching a knife in one hand, antler in the other, sawing, blistering away in the […]
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‘The Retired Agronomist….’: a poem by Rebecca Goss
The poem below is taken from Rebecca Goss’ fourth collection, Latch, recently published by Carcanet. There will be an online launch for the book on the evening of Wednesday 7th […]
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‘Delivery Boy’: a poem by Ali Ashhar
Delivery Boy The rain has started bucketing down. As the delivery boy tries to find shelter his cellphone starts buzzing constantly; he picks it up with a heavy […]
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‘Ted Bar’: a poem by Tim Cumming
Ted Bar On the down escalator at Tottenham Court Road after Stick in the Wheel’s gig at the 100 Club, I’m reckoning the last time I took those steps was […]
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The confessional as poetry’s play within a play: on Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana
Matthew Stewart Deeply personal collections, packed with poems that narrate break-ups and emotional turmoil, tend to encourage the reader to narrow the distance between the poet and the lyrical ‘I’ […]
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‘Zandvoort Fishergirl’: a poem by Helen Evans
‘The Zandvoort Fishergirl’ by Elizabeth Adela Forbes, 1884. Penlee Gallery Zandvoort Fishergirl after the painting by Elizabeth Adela Forbes Left hand on her hip, her right hand balancing an earthenware […]
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Two poems by Daragh Byrne
Back to Life The pub was closed for Christ’s yearly dying. Good Friday — regulars filed in, prisoners who felt they were better off inside, claimed aptitudes for carpentry […]
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Four poems by Dan O’Brien
Image © Cambridge Jones Below are four prose poems by Dan O’Brien from his new collection, Survivor’s Notebook, which chronicles the family life of two cancer survivors. The collection is […]