The shelves are not short of Plath collections, and we might question the need for yet another volume; however, this particular volume is well worthy of consideration. Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, introduces an anthology of Plath’s poems with a lengthy, but not gratuitous, foreword, explaining her choices and outlining her own love of Plath’s Read More
This collaboration between Tessa Ransford and Iyad Hayatleh, both poets and translators, offers a creative amalgam that weaves religion, ritual and culture to produce some remarkable poems. Ransford, a founder of the Scottish Poetry Library met Hayatleh, a Palestinian from Syria, through the “Writers in Exile” committee of Scottish PEN. From a few translations of Read More
Sally Read’s new collection, The Day Hospital, comprises twelve monologues in the voices of elderly psychiatric patients inspired by patients at the London day hospital where she had previously worked. Of these twelve patients, two are indigenous Londoners, four are Irish immigrants, and four Jewish refugees. Separation from family and friends through migration is just one aspect Read More
2012 was a big year for Jamaica. Internationally, the island’s impressive athletic performances during London’s Olympic Games prompted a proliferation of green, black and gold flags at numerous events and festivities. As Usain Bolt, unofficial Jamaican national hero (Jamaica has specific official National Heroes) and the world’s fastest man, broke yet another astonishing world record, Read More
Head On is the second collection from Clare Shaw, a poet described by Carol Ann Duffy as “one of the best new readers on the circuit”. Although the description refers to the poet’s performing abilities, the sound of Clare Shaw’s energetic voice can equally be heard coming through the lines on the page. Shaw’s pen Read More
Ian Parks is primarily known as a love poet. The Exile’s House, however, signals a thematic departure. Although a hint of romance can be read into certain pieces, this collection is primarily about landscape and an exploration of our relationship with place. The Exile’s House considers roots and origins, investigating how perceptions of place are Read More
In a Guardian Interview, Andrew Motion remarked, “Pretty much the day I stopped being laureate, the poems that had been few and far between came back to me, like birds in the evening nesting in a tree.’” Motion’s new work, The Customs House, is a challenging post-laureate collection, strongly underscored with a melancholy that brings Read More
Poem 18 in this new collection by London-based poet Sam Riviere is called “Adversity in the Arts”; the second half reads: I’m told how nice it is to see that I T and E have their books out I’m sure they’ll receive excellent reviews in the broadsheets it’s no exaggeration to say that there are not enough minutes Read More
Poets and their readers are sensitive people. A mere handful of days into an as yet undisturbed new year, Julia Copus hands us a collection with which to re-gauge these sensitivities. The World’s Two Smallest Humans is in two parts; the first focuses on time, perspective and relationships, and the second moves, slightly surprisingly, into Read More
In Stag’s Leap, Sharon Olds re-visits the months, seasons and years following the moment her husband of thirty years tells her he is leaving her for another woman. Avoiding sentimentality and self-pity, she takes her readers to the core of her anguish, hurt and even shame. Intensely personal though they are, these poems nonetheless go beyond Read More