After Economy is JL Williams’ third slim volume of poetry; it is a haunting collection that explores the world’s impending doom. Progressively, it reads like a human timeline, from the beginning when man first discovered fire to an ending with man becoming leftover cinders. The apocalyptic theme is found throughout the collection, addressing a question Read More
Aperture – A space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument, especially the variable opening by which light enters a camera. (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2018) In Aperture, Anna Leahy creates apertures through which she envisions and encapsulates – vessels through which a reader may see light. Her collection seeks to peer Read More
This new collection of poetry, from Suffolk-based writer Semmens, takes as its title a quote from Joseph Stalin, dated 1938. The Soviet leader’s reflection, and the volume itself, look backwards over the “purges” – the waves of political assassinations and executions that were implemented twenty years after the Russian Revolution. This historical resonances of the Read More
The Paths of Survival, Josephine Balmer’s third collection of poetry, is a captivating read. Balmer has used her background in translation and ancient history to create a series of addictive poetic narratives exploring Aeschylus’ infamous Greek tragedy, Myrmidons. I must admit, prior to reading this collection, I had never heard of the playwright Aeschylus or Read More
If there was ever a poetry book that felt like a workout, this would be it. I don’t mean workout in the sense of a laborious or stressful task, but as a highly stimulating read. Mark Goodwin’s House At Out exercises the mind in every sense of the word. Mark Goodwin is a poet and Read More
Trinidadian poet Richard Georges dispels the myth of the Caribbean as a modern-day paradise in his debut collection by invoking the ghosts and shipwrecks of his native islands in a sequence of darkly foreboding poems. The opening poem “Griot” sets the tone with its description of the voyage of the enslaved Abednego across the Atlantic Read More
[S]ongs made dearer when gone than ever they were, sung by heroes, animal spirits[.] There has been a need for this volume for some time, a need perhaps fully established at Riley’s Light, the 2015 Helen Mort-organised Leeds University conference. Indeed many luminaries, Vahni Capildeo, Andrew McMillan, Ian Duhig and more have shared that journey. Read More
SJ Fowler’s The Guide To Being Bear Aware is a paradigm for reflecting in a world gone awry. It is a collection with raw, political edge. Wittily, through a play-on-words, The Guide To Being Bear Aware strips the self bare, forcing the reader to acknowledge who they were before the influence of globalization and attendant Read More
In a turbulent political world, where the current US administration’s denial of climate change is clear, UK-based Illinois poet Carrie Etter’s Scar seems profoundly relevant. Informed by former government climate change reports, conversations with the Met Office and interviews with her fellow Illinoisans, this single long poem explores the impact that global warming is wreaking Read More
Shadows dart throughout What The Wolf Heard; “skeletons” confirming the collection’s theme: their heads turn slightly in a synchronized intensification and lock on something just out of our vision. Daragh Breen’s poems are crowded with spirits and ghosts, their very ethereal nature characterizing his focus on the almost indefinable. Published in 2016, What The Wolf Read More