Ulsterman Jon Plunkett is both a poet and the impetus behind Perthshire’s Corbenic Poetry Path, an inspiring stroll through beautiful moorland and forest to the accompaniment of wayside poetry and poetic fragments carved into wood, stone and glass. His first full collection takes something of the wind-blown spirit of Corbenic, but adds the warmth and Read More
There’s an unexplained comfort in reading Luck is the Hook despite many of the poems dealing with pain and, often, discomfort. Each one contains a space devoid of explanation, a sacred place of intimacy for both the poet and the reader. Awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014, Luck is the Hook is Read More
Stung by winter’s salt and grit his cold paws barely grip the icy pavement still he won’t cross to the sunny side, hangs his head when I reach out to tug his collar, leans away from me, his body a counterweight keeping us both upright on the ice linked by my outstretched arm, my hold Read More
This is Jane McKie’s third collection of poetry. Her first, Morocco Rococo, was published by Cinnamon Press and won the Sundial/SAC Prize for Best First Book in 2007. She then published Garden of Bedsteads in 2011 with Mariscat Press. She is a member of the Shore Poets group and teaches Creative Writing at the University Read More
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
Alice Tarbuck’s first pamphlet collection of poetry, Grid, challenges her collection’s title and bends poetry form. In poems of varying lengths, differing tones and metrics, her writing weaves in and out of twenty-first century human nature – exploring time, emotion, people and places. With such mixed themes the collection is difficult to summarise as a Read More
I have one simple expectation of every poetry collection that I’ve ever read or will read: that each poem will connect with others towards a cohesive whole. You can imagine my hesitation when four poems in I realised that Colin Will’s The Night I Danced With Maya failed to meet my criteria. Or did it? Read More
Writer, performer and burlesque artist Vanessa Kisuule is also a winner of over ten slam titles. She has performed at various poetry events and venues and has published two poetry collections – Joyriding the Storm (2014) and A Recipe for a Sorcery (2017). The latter, her most recent collection, uncovers the magical in the ordinary Read More
Rita Ann Higgins’s eleventh poetry collection, Tongulish, pulses with conversation. It is a stroll down the street; the ambience of the spoken word splayed across the page. Conversation is volatile and ever-changing from subject to subject; in much the same way, the poems within the collection cover a plethora of subject matter. It is a Read More
Indisputably, Emily Dickinson’s “Tell it Slant” works, but does her entreatment apply solely to poets? In Rego Retold Owen Lowery has rightly termed his collection “Poems in Response” (my italics). Ekphrastic poetry has many detractors; done badly there is reason for critical disquiet. If we are all in some way telling it slant then any Read More