My review of Jonathan Davidson's A Commonplace appears on Wild Court 'A sense of place abounds in Jonathan Davidson’s A Commonplace (Smith-Doorstep, 2020), and while that might seem natural from the title, the ‘place’ here derives from a translation of the Latin term ‘locus communis’ or ‘a general or common topic’. Commonplace books were collections of sayings, … Continue reading A Commonplace by Jonathan Davidson
Category: Review
Restless Voices by Alan Price
My review of Restless Voices by Alan Price appeared in issue 66 of The Journal. Reading Alan Price's recent book, which includes a sequence of poems using the cut-up method, I was struck by how this form of work offers an almost an inverted experience, in that it is more interesting and rewarding to write than it … Continue reading Restless Voices by Alan Price
The Interrupted Sky by David Lawrence
My review of The Interrupted Sky by David Lawrence appeared in issue 66 of The Journal. For seasoned watchers of American competitive reality shows—think tattoos, drag queens, fashion design, glass blowing— a phrase pops up with grinding inevitability. Usually uttered by some under-pressure competitor in the process of exiting events, no sooner are the following words out of their … Continue reading The Interrupted Sky by David Lawrence
I Don’t Want To Go To The Taj Mahal by Charlie Hill
My review of I Don't Want to Go To The Taj Mahal by Charlie Hill appeared in issue 66 of The Journal. The first time I ordered a drink in a pub, I found myself asking for a 'light beer'. I don’t know what I was thinking, really, but I'd probably picked up the term in some American film or TV show. After a … Continue reading I Don’t Want To Go To The Taj Mahal by Charlie Hill
Bloom
My review of Sarah Westcott's new book, Bloom, has been published on Wild Court. 'The poems in this luminous book, Bloom (Pavilion Press, 2021) are tight, fragmented things, varying in shape and typesetting, in a style both abstract and committed: the world placed firmly underfoot even as the work revels in strangeness and uncertainty. The first poem, … Continue reading Bloom
Tagging The Maze
I've been hugely busy of late with family and work, and the spare moments have seen me working on a new novel. All of this means that I've fallen behind with many things, and that includes posting things on this blog. Here's a recent piece: a personal essay on a poetry collection by Robert Selby, … Continue reading Tagging The Maze
Map of a Plantation
My review of Jenny Mitchell's recent collection Map of a Plantation has now been published on Wild Court. The title of Jenny Mitchell’s follow-up collection to 2019’s Her Lost Language begins with a gesture to objectivity. Map of a Plantation (Indigo Dreams, 2021) – we’re offered a sense of distance, a dispassionate realm of depiction, the chart not the … Continue reading Map of a Plantation
The Political Economy of Tango in the Twenty-First Century by Richard Schwarz
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
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
SF Crowsnest Review
Very pleased (not to mention grateful) for the following review of my little science fiction book, Requiem For An Astronaut. 'I liked everything about this [book]. Bart is a perfect narrator with a calm, observant, slightly jaded point of view that doesn’t lapse into cheap cynicism. His style is relaxed and his musings reveal much … Continue reading SF Crowsnest Review
Absence Club 