Category: Poetry Review

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 12

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‘GenderFux’
by Jem Henderson, Jonathan Kinsman and J.P. Seabright

my womb whispers / life gives you a single task – / but i don’t listen. / i am selfish like that.

‘Genderfux’ is a collaborative pamphlet of 27 poems by three authors: Jem Henderson, Jonathan Kinsman and J.P. Seabright. Henderson (she/they) is a genderqueer poet from Leeds with an MA in Creative Writing from York St. John’s University. Kinsman (he/him) is a polyamorous, bisexual transmasculine poet from Manchester and Seabright (she/they) is a queer writer living in London. All have been extensively published over the past few years.

None of this trio are new to me: I’ve watched them on Zoom, and I’ve read their work in other publications. Singly, they are poets of power and force, with strident and compelling voices. Put them together however, and something truly remarkable happens. Here is presented a queer narrative that makes you think long and hard about what that really means, and the myriad consequences it presents.

What’s in it for Me?

Here are three poets very much capable of illustrating sexuality in surprising (Crocuta crocuta) and amusing forms (jack and jill went up the hill), whilst form and function are warped and bent with ease (from the Book of Demons, some possible genders). However, it is the historical insights, unsurprisingly, that carry the biggest emotional heft, and here is where the true strength and depth of each of this trio really shines through, versions of history so bright and intense that they will leave imprints on your retinas for many days afterwards.

This is also a testament to Colin Bancroft’s superlative curation: three approaches so distinct that they do not need to be individually attributed, and aren’t. When they are, at the end of the text, it becomes obvious where the overlaps are placed, but with this narrative so fluid and well-created, so confident and honest, you really don’t need the signposts in the first place. Again I find myself thinking that not a single word is wasted in this pamphlet. Every poem is essential to the collective whole, and together they are virtually invincible.

A lot of queer poetry has been a tough ask since coming out, and finding pieces that speak to my feelings and situations remains problematic. Every experience here is a lifetime and a heartbeat away from anything this mind could begin to imagine, but the power and force of the words has gripped and altered me in ways that are still being decoded. This pamphlet has been criminally overlooked, and is a searing collection of life and pain, wrapped around the need to be authentic and honest. I urge everybody to read it.

Personal Favourites

Kayfabe for the imagery
Fault / Lines for the inference
ninth circle for the impact

Any Other Business

Honestly, this is one of the best things I’ve read for a VERY long time. You don’t need two paragraphs of hyperbole: it was nominated for a Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work in 2022. Honestly, your life will be better with this pamphlet in it.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 11

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‘Fierce Scrowe’
by Éadaoín Lynch

All that calms me afterwards is the waking dream / of getting everything I want. Almost.

Éadaoín Lynch is an Irish poet, freelancer & researcher living and working in Edinburgh. They have previously lead & co-edited for the Re·creation project and are currently Research & Evaluation Manager for the Scottish Book Trust, plus a Trustee of the StAnza Poetry Festival. They also operate as a freelance writer and editor, offering mentorship, feedback, and project support. Their work has appeared in Gutter, The North Magazine, Icarus, HARTS & Minds, The Kindling, and the Fawn Press anthology Elements. They were shortlisted for the Jane Martin Poetry Prize and the London Magazine Poetry Prize.

From time to time, you come across work from another poet that disturbs the fabric of your personal Universe. The last time this happened was during last year’s Sealey Challenge, with a book that I’m only now beginning to really get my head around. It’s currently inspiring my own piece of long-form work. I strongly suspect Éadaoín’s pamphlet will do the same, and my brain will thank me for it.

What’s in it for Me?

Occasionally, as a reader, you will be presented with a pamphlet that isn’t just the words and the spaces. It serves as an odd, unexpected portal that, if you allow it, can transport you to a space, a place and time that you have no understanding of, but which will not judge you for that lack of comprehension. Instead, you will find yourself as a bystander to something truly unique and precious. Other people’s lives told in poetry is the stuff of magnificent distillation, and that is what Fierce Scrow presents.

The world that Éadaoín Lynch allows me to see begins as totally unknown, yet with candour and intelligence the sounds, tastes and feelings of their history slowly emerge. Whether it is emotional meteorology in the superlative Knot, how baking is imprinted with familial memories in Study of Bread or the minutiae of loss in Glór, every single word allows the mind to picture places a world and time away. I am also immensely grateful for the explanatory notes, fixing each tableau in a stronger context.

There has been found an unexpected solace in these words during a difficult period of emotional turmoil, and if that’s not enough of an indicator of how deeply personal yet accessibly open these poems are, I don’t know what else to say. The best poetry’s subsidiary function after being entertaining and informative is to give you what you needed, often without realizing that it was required. The sense of self in these poems stands vibrant and with a vital, beating heart. It grants permission to become one with both past and present, and to feel comfortable in both.

Personal Favourites

Knot for the imagery
Dear Anne Lister for the inference
Deora Dé for the impact

Any Other Business

The last few weeks have been a struggle to keep reading, during a personal period where all I’ve really wanted to do most days is sleep and not think about anything. Writing this from notes, it has occurred to me that this pamphlet’s done more than become a review. I’ve not done it justice on the few readings I’ve done. Sitting on the desk in front of me is something that didn’t just make things better, it encouraged me to write.

There is a lot said about the details of poems, their meanings, the layers and their complexities, but sometimes all you want is to feel as if the world you’re given is one you could lose yourself within, if only for a while. I did just that with Fierce Scrow and allowed somebody else’s experiences to become a narrative I could be lost in without judgement and with kindness. This pamphlet was a soothing balm, moments and spaces that were visited and enjoyed in quiet contemplation.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to read it.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 10

‘thirty-one small acts of love and resistance’
by Steve Pottinger

I shouted ‘Oi! Fella! You’ve dropped your hat!’ / and he said ‘Thanks, mate. I’d have lost that.’

Steve Pottinger is a poet, author, and workshop facilitator, and a founding member of the Wolverhampton arts collective known as ‘Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists’. He has performed at Ledbury and StAnza poetry festivals and the Edinburgh Free Fringe. He has also written three punk autobiographies, including ‘City Baby’ (the story of Ross Lomas, the bassist with Birmingham punk band GBH).

Steve’s work came into my orbit as a result of watching him perform live late last year, and this pamphlet was originally published in May of 2022. It is, quite simply, one of the most impressively considered and politically powerful pieces of work I have ever read. I LOVE this pamphlet. Let me now explain exactly why.

What’s in it for Me?

Many people will claim to have no political bias in their work, that poetry should not consider such contentious subjects. Once I even believed this myself. People like Steve have made me think long and hard about why my work needs to be MORE political, that challenging the injustice and flat-out selfish greed that seems to have become part of the landscape in certain spheres of the modern world is now not just necessary, but is becoming a vital means by which to preserve artistic integrity.

This entire pamphlet tells it like it is: with exquisite care, a searingly-intelligent aspect and outlook, but most crucially with a humour that I really wish more poets would consider introducing into their work. Whether it’s the sheer brilliance of on that day or the quiet reflection of Desaparecida, the historical relevance of trainspotting, 1832 or the running joke that begins with a bloke dropping his hat in Wolverhampton Swimming Baths… literally, there IS something for everyone. However. it’s what’s stitched between the stanzas that pleases me most of all.

Steve doesn’t compromise. He’s honest and clever and crucially understands EXACTLY how the World works, good and bad. Every single poem perfectly complements the whole to create the most authentic, most honest and satisfying sequence of observations. If the poet’s job is to accurately present to the reader what it is like to exist in their head? Steve’s world is a more accessible version of reality than you’ll ever see on the news, in the papers or on TV. For a tenner, you get what I’m confident is a quintessential Black Country Snapshot. Seriously, value and depth does not come around like this very often.

Personal Favourites

top deck for the imagery
parkour for the inference
you do not listen for the impact

Any Other Business

We’ve been at this now for nearly twelve weeks, and it is becoming apparent how many absolutely fucking brilliant poets are out in the world, many of them destined never to make it past the Indy press or self-publishing ‘tier’ of established output. It is also very obvious how much talent exists if you take the time and energy to seek out work away from the established avenues of publication and mainstream performance.

Steve’s work is an object lesson in self-ownership, self-promotion and understated delivery, and deserves so much more exposure than it currently has. He is the reminder that if you are capable of taking destiny into your own hands, a lot can and will come from hard work and persistence. Most importantly however, this work is achingly authentic and, as a result, is a testament to the man who had the nerve to let us into his brain before sticking it onto the page.

This is his sixth book and fuck me did I enjoy it. Roll on the seventh.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 9

‘Lift the Mask’
by Kristin Houlihan

Enlighten all to the / universality of struggle.

Kristin Houlihan is an editor turned writer, who is married with four children and who lives in California. She has been diagnosed with Long Covid Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME.

Kristin was the first person to approach me and to ask if I’d consider reviewing her work via the Contact Form. This book is a compilation of short form poems and lyrical prose that originally appeared on Twitter, prompted by the #vss365 hashtag (VSS stands for Very Short Story)

What’s in it for Me?

It takes a lot of courage to reach out to random strangers on the Internet (trust me on this) and when asked to look at this book it was something that was very easy to do. The only issue, oddly, was buying this book from Amazon and not being able to directly send the cash to Kristin… and then, after a long think about my own prejudices when it comes to how publishing currently functions, it occurred to me that this is probably a better way of ensuring authors get their money than many traditional methods.

There’s a brutal honesty in this collection that makes it all the more worthwhile: from #Grape to #Pedestal this is a selection of small, elegantly constructed vignettes, that show a writer slowly finding their voice in the face of adversity. There’s hidden depth, yearning and complexity too, and this pamphlet is both well put together and emotionally compelling. On the second and third reads, it becomes increasingly apparent that Houlihan understands how to make the limited number of characters on offer work to strong effect.

As a writer who has experimented over the years with Twitter as a literary delivery system, it’s hugely encouraging to find a collection that’s come off social media to become something more than it began. When you only have 240 characters to play with, many difficult decisions need to be made. It’s fair to say that Kristin has done beautiful things with her choices.

Personal Favourites

#Exist for the imagery
#Clear for the inference
#Normalize for the impact

Any Other Business

When I started this journey, the plan was to attract people to approach me and to ‘sell’ their work in the hope I’d be interested and snag their words. In reality, thus far, only two people have come forward and asked me to do so. All the other work has been picked by me as things I’d like to read. I have to be honest: I’d not have picked out something like Kristin’s work to read. Having done so, I’m very glad that I did.

True development as both a reader and a writer will only come when you challenge your own preconceptions of what makes good content. In this case, this is an object lesson on the power of social media to foster and develop new ability, and to grant individuals with barriers to interaction a greater power with which to further amplify their own voices. I am truly grateful for being approached, and for being schooled. This tiny blue book has the power to change outlooks and widen imaginations, if you allow it the opportunity to do so.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 8

Paper and Ink #17: ‘We Are All Going To Die’
by Scumbag Press

Don’t tell me to smile / When it is because of you that / So many are / Struggling to survive…

Scumbag Press is the brainchild of Martin Appleby, who has a prestigious history of producing zines and chapbooks under the Paper and Ink ‘umbrella’. This zine however was a while in the production: 10 chapbooks were released first between issue 16 and 17, all limited to 30 copies, which were completely hand made.

Appleby has presented something truly unique here: it’s not just poetry either, but a carefully curated selection of short stories and artwork. Both layout and production values put a number of indy presses to shame, too. It’s a rare and beautiful thing, absolutely packed with quality from cover to cover.

What’s in it for Me?

There’s an ironic aside I saw many creatives allude to around what there was time to do during COVID Lockdowns: Appleby created a DIY press, with bespoke, carefully approached production standards, which is a very fortunate thing for me as a reader. The attention to detail in this Zine is exceptional, and the quality is beyond impressive. Many conventional publishers would struggle to produce work of comparable quality.

It’s also literally impossible to pick favourites from this selection, so I’m gonna take the coward’s way out and cite three favourites below before acknowledging everyone involved as equally worthy of your time and perusal. You will find poetry, prose and short stories here from the following people; Carson Pytell, Joseph Ridgwell, Kieron Higgins, Preacher Allgood, Jack Moody, Danny Koslowski, Nicole Morning, Patty O’Gravel, Melissa Taylor, Kirsty Allison, Molly Glinski, Funkhauser, Bradford Middleton, Tohm Bakelas, Dave Cullern, Jacob Ian DeCoursey, Claire Richardson, Ben Newell, John Dorsey, Victor Clevenger, Ford Dagenham, Clay Hunt, Jono Coote, Pete Donohue, John D. Robinson, Aqeel Parvaz, Luke Young, Joseph Fulkerson, George Schaefer, Jason Gerrish, Cody Taylor, Danny D. Ford, Mallory Smart, Aleathia Drehmer and Mika.

Honestly, if you’re looking for entertainment and value for money, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything as good as this to fill a couple of cold, Winter evenings. It’s a testament to the school of DIY Publishing, and proves just what’s possible if you’re prepared to put in time, effort and creative savoir faire. I have massive respect for Martin’s approach to this, and I’ve learnt a lot from it, not just as a poet. EVERY DAY IS A SCHOOL DAY, KIDS.

Personal Favourites

The Allomoner’s Nest [Kirsty Allison] for the imagery
Hopelessly Devoted [Claire Richardson] for the inference
Simple Eddie [Pete Donohue] for the impact

Any Other Business

There are a fantastic number of Indy Publishers, both physical and virtual, who are out there looking for work right now, and if you’re beginning a journey into poetry you could do a lot worse than take a chance and submit your own work. Or, you could do what Martin Appleby has done and start your own. The thirst for physical work and not just digital submissions is not likely to diminish any time soon.

With production quality this strong and contents of an even higher calibre, this Pen and Ink Zine is a masterpiece, an object lesson in how to present work then make it unputdownable. Go make this a sell out, you won’t regret it.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 7

‘It’s Honorary, Bab’
by Emma Purshouse

But, hey ho / this time we win, / the UK’s most miserable. / Get in!

Emma Purshouse was born in Wolverhampton, and is a freelance writer, novelist and performance poet. Since 2007 she has consistently defied convention and performed in a dazzling array of roles, from actress to recording artist, with multiple publications across countless formats. She is currently one third of the massively talented and highly respected Black Country-based poetry collective, Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists.

Also, this isn’t a pamphlet, and I’d be doing it a massive disservice by even considering it as one. This is a story unlike any other you will ever read: one of circumstance, opportunity, and how one woman rose to the challenge of Lockdown and summarily overcame every single problem she was presented with. Oh, and they also win SPOILER in the SPOILER… but I’m getting ahead of the plot…

What’s in it for Me?

The setup is incredibly simple: Emma lands what would be for most poets their dream job: Poet Laureate of your home town. Except, less than three months into her tenure, COVID arrives and spoils the party… except, Emma won’t let it. I’m not giving anything away here when I tell you that the journey from start to finish is a hugely, superlatively inspiring and heart lifting experience to read about, both in poetry and prose. In fact, the combination of the two in Purshouse’s superbly detailed yet practical and earthy style, makes this one of the most enjoyable books I have EVER read.

There are those who will tell you that explaining your own poetic output somehow devalues the significance of its impact. Those people are foolish. I would urge those people to seek this book out, as it proves a potent point. Emma’s narrative is no-nonsense, compelling, and ultimately hugely satisfactory. Like everybody else who lived through the horror of COVID and was able to thrive, of which there were many, every poem paints a picture of community as the foundation not just for healing, but for continued and sustainable growth. The prose explanation grants these stanzas even more power than they would hold alone.

From Wolverhampton a Winning City through For the gifts that are given all the way to Make this Christmas Matter (which was subsequently also made into a short film) the narrative shines bright, brave and strong. There’s not one duff word in any of this, and it’s criminal that more people haven’t read it. I hope, as a result, this review might encourage a few more people to be inspired by Emma as I have been. A bigger heart and a brighter soul you will be lucky to find anywhere in the poetic world, and it’s a reminder that hard work will bring you the joy of the unexpected surprise if you open yourself to possibility.

Personal Favourites

Boundary Way Plots for the imagery
Telephony for the inference
Light House, Camera, Action for the impact

Any Other Business

This book has directly inspired me to try a narrative journey with poetic asides myself. I’ve no idea whether it will work or not, but Emma’s living proof that if you want things to happen, you can do a lot worse than just do the work. There’s a dazzling range of acknowledgements at the end of the book, too, and I spent a happy couple of hours shoving URL’s into my browser and looking at the results.

You will have to go a long way to find a story and poetry as enjoyable and compelling as this, and with such a brilliant real world backdrop to accompany it. PLEASE BUY A COPY.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 6

‘Sagrada Familia’
by Helen Anderson

You nod as if you know loss, too / You don’t tell.

Helen Anderson is a writer of memoir, fiction, and poetry. Based in the North East of England, she has an MA in Creative Writing from Teesside University and is the founder of the Saltburn Writers Group. She won the People Not Borders Short Story Competition in 2018, as well as the Ink Tears Flash Fiction Contest 2015, and the Bridgwater Home Start Short Story Competition in 2013, which was judged by Dame Margaret Drabble.

This was the last pamphlet I received as part of my Nine Pens Press crowdfunding deal from 2022, and it’s a stonker, not just for the quality of content, but the emotional heft if carries. It also made for sobering and difficult reading. There’s a great deal laid bare here, and I, for one, feel that’s something more poets should be aiming to present in their work.

What’s in it for Me?

The opening poem, Seasoned, is an expositional punch to the gut: if you noticed who these poems are dedicated to, the work that follows will provide graphic details of how both are no longer in the Poet’s life. The next group of pieces colour in parts of a whole that has been lost, taken away and still leaves two indelible, painful holes. Of this selection, Counsel is the strongest, a taut and restrained reflection on the layers we carry emotionally.

By the time you reach How to Grow a Widow there is a palpable sense of how Anderson has been shaped by trauma, and how it is now stitched within every word of her existence. From the inescapable guilt in Two Years Older to what remains behind after loss in Old For New, every poem is a part of a litany to existence, and how we cope as humans when our loved ones are lost.

I have heard it said that art often finds you in times of stress and worry and provides you with what is needed to move forward from its careful study. This poetry for me has been strength personified, a constant reminder that life continues after death. How we deal with that and how that fuels our progress becomes a measure of fortitude and belief. This is a superb, solid and uncompromising treatise on love and grief.

Personal Favourites

Next Best Thing for the imagery
Restricted Palette for the inference
How to Grow a Widow for the impact

Any Other Business

I’m currently going through my own trauma journey, and this pamphlet has taught me a great deal. It is also a salutatory reminder that the right language can and will find you if you allow that to happen. There is warmth and familiarity, understanding and genuine care in every stanza, and it remains a fitting and impressive eulogy to the daughter and husband Anderson has lost. To be able to write so brilliantly is a mark of a poet who truly understands the power of emotion in context.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 5

‘a girl in a blue dress’
by Rachel Burns

they’re upsetting the dolls / and that makes her cross

Rachel Burns completed a screenwriting talent scheme with Northern Film and Media and has subsequently been longlisted in several playwriting competitions. She is an alumnus of the 2018 Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Programme in playwriting, and also has had short stories published in Mslexia, Here Comes Everyone and Signs of Life anthology. She is widely published in literary magazines including The Moth, Butcher’s Dog and Ink, Sweat & Tears, and is currently participating in the Creative Future/TLC development programme, where she is working on her debut novel.

Rachel and I encountered each other during a poetry course last year. Her ability and brilliance were immediately apparent, and this collection packs a hefty punch. It is, for me in places, a salutatory reminder of my own childhood and of how moments and experiences in childhood are a key to future direction and development.

What’s in it for Me?

Here are literal slices of Rachel’s history that have been shaved from her imagination and presented to the reader for examination. She pulls absolutely no punches with subjects either: from the uncompromising horror of Teenage Pregnancy to stark reminders of poverty and motherhood in Demolished via an identifiable, detached calm in The Dolls that you’ll immediately recognize if you lived in a similar world.

In-between the starkness however are incredibly accomplished, beautifully photographic moments of brilliance: I challenge you not be able to smell and feel the atmosphere in Sacriston Girls on the Night Bus, or the slow creeping horror of Sean. There’s not one bad poem in here either, everything combines to paint a stark, unrelenting picture from an imagination that knows all too well how to tell stories in the most compelling means possible.

How we become the adults we are inevitably is painted and tainted by our early life experiences. Rachel’s true talent is to not be afraid of those moments on the page: a masterful command of language and an unerring attention to detail make it impossible to look away, which in turn gives each piece of work added impact and significance. This is a pamphlet you must own, for no other reason than it’s a brutally brilliant mirror on how the past pushes us to escape its terrors in the search for a better future.

Personal Favourites

Rachel and the Seven Wonders of the World for the imagery
Hail to the Library and the Thief for the inference
Abecedarian for When Hell Freezes Over for the impact

Any Other Business

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Rachel online, what with social media exploding and everything, and it’s always satisfying to find out more about a writer when you’re writing about their work. I had no idea of how well she’s done as a scriptwriter, for instance, and that she’s currently working on a novel. Poetry is a fundamental part of both those other professions too, and I’m suddenly very much looking forward to seeing what that debut novel might read like… and indeed whether Rachel would then adapt her own work…

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 4

‘Random Trail’
by Vron McIntyre

we climb / and the pain is healed

Vron McIntyre (they/she) is a queer, disabled poet, who has in their life been a peace camper, a fat liberationist and a DIY editor and publisher. They live in Nottingham and are part of the DIY Poets Collective and the Social Model Writers.

I was lucky enough to encounter Vron at an online event and having heard them read their work, I wanted to know more. This pamphlet is a rich, earthy slice of an existence that I have only ever seen in pictures or as part of other people’s narratives. It was, therefore, a fascinating and enlightening experience to read from the poet’s viewpoint.

What’s in it for Me?

The opening poem, Patterns, gives so much and resonates though me as can only happen to someone who fundamentally connects with a poet and their work on a molecular level. Whether it is domestic appliances or the risk assessments of her own mother, everything possesses just enough precision and the exact amount of compelling detail to keep me reading the poems, time and again. Here are a complex and compelling set of snapshots.

The photographic brilliance in Rollercoaster and repeat many times evoke shared experience in the most vivid means possible: you can indeed write anything you want, and when your business is DIY subversion and protest, women’s rights and protesting nuclear proliferation, those moments take on a significant and substantive historical resonance of their own. You are not simply recording your own history, but that of thousands of others who use protest as their lever.

However, it is in poems like the superlative Pareidolia (the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none) or the incisive and telling Ghosts where Vron’s true mastery and cohesion comes to the fore. These poems may again be the life of someone else, but their telling has a familiarity and accessibility which allows you to truly immerse in the moments and experience their brilliance for yourself.

Personal Favourites

Pareidolia for the imagery
Twelve Months for the inference
my life is an apple tree for the impact

Any Other Business

There are a number of pamphlets that I have which are well-read and often returned to, and Random Trail has already been added to that pile. The best poetry encourages you not just to read, but learn from each word. This is poetry steeped in history and activism, the narrative of a life lived very much in the moment. It is also a reminder of what other women have provide and fought for in order for us all to stand here with a measure of confidence.

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#IBuyYourPamphlet: WEEK 3

‘HATE, LOVE, HATE’
by Carson Pytell

if you are born, you’ve been screwed / into existence

Carson Pytell is a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net nominated writer living outside Albany, New York. He serves as assistant Poetry Editor of Coastal Shelf and has had a number of other chapbooks published in the last few years.

As part of a package deal with the excellent Back Room Poetry (who, for full disclosure purposes, are publishing a chapbook of mine in April) I have purchased all the small press’ output for the next twelve months. This is the final of three releases I’ll be reviewing in January, and there’s a far more mellow feel to this collection than its predecessors.

What’s in it for Me?

Welcome to a microcosm of reality, where our author’s history and narrative collide in an often understated but never predictable fashion. The clues to what you’re experiencing are here to unearth and take in, between the stanzas and hidden in the white spaces, as to why Pytell’s work deserves your attention. His history is written with care and often surprising attention to minutiae over spectacle.

There’s a surreal lens at play too: The Pangea Complex and At this point have their words placed squarely in the poet’s gaze, and it takes time and effort to adjust yourself to the positioning. Once you get comfortable, though, American nostalgia, personal histories and late nights alone are all illuminated in an unassuming, singularly remarkable gaze, and a lingering sense of personal isolation remains that is as sobering as it is well-constructed.

However, it is in the process of stark narrative (Nails on a Dry Erase Board being the standout poem) where motivation and world view start their slow, controlled staining of everything else. There is a necessary discomfort in this world of mundane wonder: it doesn’t have to make sense, but it absolutely needs to exist. As Roulette states: Life, like colour and taste is subjective / as comfort and these poems are very much here to challenge what your definition of comfort really means.

Personal Favourites

Stars for the imagery
Roulette for the inference
I named my right hand Sonny for the impact

Any Other Business

When I’m reading work, I tend to find myself looking for music to accompany the business of poetic absorption. In this case, I found myself being pushed back to a film that I’d not seen for many years. I’d be interested to know if the poet thinks of this association, as I find myself feeling an awful lot of my reactions to his work in the narrative. Paris, Texas also has one of the most evocative soundtracks I’ve ever loved, and going back to Ry Cooder’s work on Spotify was very much like returning to an old friend.

Poetry is meant to make you think: these poems allow an experience of life that you never knew existed.

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