My review of The Political Economy of Tango in the Twenty-First Century appeared in issue 64 of The Journal. Where to start with this collection by Richard Schwarz? Begin with the beginning, then, or at least the title, which is very good in this case. The Political Economy of Tango in the Twenty-First Century: it's both fun and recondite, … Continue reading The Political Economy of Tango in the Twenty-First Century by Richard Schwarz
Category: Poetry
Bad Idea by Robert Sheppard
My review of Bad Idea appeared in issue 64 of The Journal.When reviewing poetry, you can be forgiven for looking for the open goal, the snagging hook. And so, somewhere in the multiverse, I'm opening my review of Bad Idea with the lines 'What could be worse than a long drawn out process like Brexit? A sonnet … Continue reading Bad Idea by Robert Sheppard
Cry of the Poor
I'm really pleased to have a poem in the anthology The Cry of the Poor, edited by Fran Lock and published by Culture Matters. 'The Weather In Priory Park' is one of my lockdown poems, about an encounter with a man in my local park. 'Something about a dogsecures you to a place. How else could … Continue reading Cry of the Poor
I Never Think Dark Will Come by Susan Jordan
My review of I Never Think Dark Will Come originally appeared in issue 63 of The Journal.Things abound in the first book by Susan Jordan, which takes as its focus the corporeal and tangible. 'Let us praise little things, the use we make of them,' Jordan declares in 'Laudemus' (the Latin for 'let us praise) … Continue reading I Never Think Dark Will Come by Susan Jordan
Operations of Water by Ian Seed
My review of Operations of Water originally appeared in issue 63 of The Journal. There's a famous story about the novelist Saul Bellow when, stuck in a rut with an unfinished novel, an American in Paris, he walked beside the Seine and became inspired by the freedom of the water. This relationship between the written … Continue reading Operations of Water by Ian Seed
Substantial Ghosts by Doreen Hinchcliffe
My review of Substantial Ghosts originally appeared in issue 61 of The Journal.The reader is offered an odd encounter towards the end of Doreen Hinchliffe's Substantial Ghost, her second collection after Dark Italics in 2017. In the poem, 'Twin', Hinchcliffe describes the narrator visiting an apparent twin's bedroom, after fifty years. ('Inseparable, we move and one, each/ Of … Continue reading Substantial Ghosts by Doreen Hinchcliffe
Home Turf by Ann Matthews
My review of Home Turf originally appeared in issue 61 of The Journal. Home Turf by Ann Matthews is, as poetry books go, a pleasing thing: a good cover, well designed, with a nice weight, shape and heft. And the thingness of the book is important, because Matthews's work is offering us a conceptual sense of … Continue reading Home Turf by Ann Matthews
Morphrog 23
I have five (not so easy) pieces in the most recent edition of Morphrog online magazine, including a prose poem, 'Birches'. Here's an excerpt: 'I found myself in a small copse of young birches: a damp smell of humus and fresh rain, the sky closed and white, the onset of spring heralded in distant, waxy … Continue reading Morphrog 23
Spring On The Balcony
Spring on The Balcony is a film-poem made last year, during the height of lockdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMUvpCi6I-8
‘Clickbait’ Reading
Here's the video of my reading of my poem 'Clickbait', which was commended in the National Poetry Competition 2020. https://vimeo.com/528198452
Absence Club 