Polcevera
I found Polcevera by Julian Bishop in the inaugural issue of The Alchemy Spoon, which is available in print and online. It may have been the alliteration in the first line that caught my attention: 'Y...
1 Feb 20211min
Broken Villanelle with Bees
I found this poem by Sarah Alcaide-Escue in the second issue of Channel Magazine. I've been studying villanelle form - I enjoy the rhyme scheme. This poem forces me to stop and slow down. In the secon...
18 Jan 20211min
Pterodactyl
Pterodactyl is from John McCullough's latest collection, Reckless Paper Birds. I like the way the lines run on - I sometimes found it hard to pace myself so I had enough breath to finish the sentences...
4 Jan 20211min
Song of the West Men
I have a weakness for repeated words and alliteration and I find both in Song of the West Men by Simon Armitage. Armitage makes use of a repeating form "the far of the far ... the isles of the isles ...
23 Nov 20201min
Almost
I found Almost be Elizabeth Jennings today while flipping through a collection in need of solace. I can't tell you why, but the sound and feel of "it almost was not' comforting. There's something hypn...
17 Nov 202041s
Time to be Slow
By John O'Donohue, Time to be Slow seems very apt after spending 3 weeks of the last 4 feeling unwell - taking time to be slow becomes very important when life gets tough. I enjoy how the poem's rhyt...
9 Nov 202037s
As the team's head brass
I discovered this poem when reading about metre and rhythm in contemporary poetry (The anthology 'Staying Alive' gives an excellently easy to digest short essay 'The Sound of Poetry' in its appendix.)...
19 Okt 20201min
Madrigal
I first heard Tomas Tranströmer's Madrigal when a Swedish colleague chose to read it my leaving party many years ago, for a job that I loved. That means I first heard it rather than read it, which mak...
22 Sep 202050s
