The Forward Prizes, with thoughts for those on and not on the shortlists

Today The Guardian covered the announcement of the Forward Prize shortlistings. I've been quoted by newspapers four times before--twice by the L.A. Times, twice by the (central Illinois) Pantagraph, yet never accurately until now. You can read the article here.

While I've been pleased to see congratulations go to the shortlisted poets on Facebook and Twitter, I've also thought of the sadness and disappointment some of those not shortlisted may feel, as I've felt before at similar announcements, and want to say there was much good work that didn't make the shortlists, and not making the list does not mean one's book or poem isn't good.

The Guardian's Poem of the Week, from Imagined Sons, with a splendid review

I'm delighted that one of my birthmother's catechisms is The Guardian's "Poem of the Week," selected by Carol Rumens, yet perhaps more moved by Rumens' overall account of the book, wonderfully appreciative and astute. Describing the Imagined Sons prose poems, she writes, "Funny at times, fast-moving and psychologically astute, these tiny monologues are held together by a narrative voice as seemingly self-possessed as it is candid." Of the catechisms, she says, "Etter reinterprets the form as both a psychological and a melodic device. The intense, same-question repetition pushes the speaker into a corner, where poetic self-defence may be disarmed, the creative play of the prose poems distilled to a barer essence." Concluding with her analysis of the catechism that asks, "Who do you think you are?," Rumens comments on the last line, "It's a cadence of renunciation, singular and resonant, in a text otherwise charged with restless energy and novelistic powers of invention."
  
Heartening and gratifying....

 

My review of Heather Phillipson's Instant-flex 718 in today's Guardian

It's a lively, intelligent debut I was happy to discuss and recommend. You can read the review here. 

Two reviews of Ian Pindar's Constellations

My review of Ian Pindar's Constellations appears today at The Guardian, minus two sentences of criticism. Here is the sentence prior to them along with the missing sentences:

The poems are most effective when precise images build into nuanced observations, as when the speaker notes "the seductive endurance of the particular" toward the end of "21." When the entire poem  operates as an abstract meditation, sometimes the result appears a little hackneyed, as when "62" begins "Poetry must go where prose cannot follow." At other times the desire to declare means an otherwise intriguing poem is undermined by a trite conclusion, as when "75" closes with "A new beginning, a fresh start, morning" and "77" ends "If my children are happy I am happy."

From there the review resumes as it's printed. I post this here because I don't want any reputation I may have as a discerning reader of poetry to be marred by what seems a wholly positive review of a not wholly strong collection. Obviously it has a number of good qualities, as the review in The Guardian notes, but the weaknesses need to be noted also.

Geraldine Monk's Lobe Scarps & Finials (Leafe Press, 2011)

I've just finished reading the latest collection from Geraldine Monk, Lobe Scarps & Finials, and warmly recommend it. While some of the poems worked more for me than others, on the whole I relished its playfulness and good humour, its chattiness and range of register, and concur with David Wheatley's thoughtful review in The Guardian. Here are just a few choice passages:

Rock runs to slurry.

Earthquakes cakewalk the

globe and back.

dunder. earth. death. dearth. abide.

*

O.K. lamb--

meek it out...

from "March"

...everything was elsewhere and

being England it was cloudy.

*

Colder. Wetter.

Perseids a proper shower

hurtling a best-in-years

outta-sight and

being England it was cloudy.

from "August"

Vegetables must be

peeled eyes removed

hearts recovered. Fruit flesh

parted with gravity.

from "November"

In a late summer night courtyard illuminated

shafts of wet creaked a simmering up-deep.

*

How greener is the other side of the

body incorruptible?

*

Moderation didn't make the

universe burst into pentameters.

Extremes teem. Petals and

thorns. Throne of frowns.

from "Poppyheads"

I'd quote more if I could replicate the spacing. You can buy the book directly from the publisher here.

Alice Oswald withdraws from the T.S. Eliot Prize

in protest at the sponsor Aurum, an investment company focusing on hedge funds. Americans need to know that this is the most prestigious prize for poetry in the UK--it'd be like withdrawing from the Pulitzer or National Book Award, which makes Oswald's act that much more public and impressive. Read the story in The Guardian.

Requiescat in Pace Christopher Logue, 1926-2011

The first Guardian obituary can be read here.

Peter Reading, 1946-2011

Peter Reading's most recent book, Vendange Tardive (meaning late harvest), was all too prophetic about the nearness of his death. My review of that impressive collection appears on The Guardian website here, and his publisher Bloodaxe Books's blog entry on his death here.

British poetry has lost one of its most compelling, original writers.

Poet Tomas Tranströmer wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

See the article in today's Guardian.

Poetry Reviews

My short reviews of Nancy Gaffield's Tokaido Road, Ahren Warner's Confer, and Carol Watts' Occasionals appear in today's Guardian. All were well worth the read.

The Poetry Society's Extraordinary General Meeting, 22 July 2011

A Guardian report somewhat sympathetic to the Board of Trustees appears here, while a statement from outgoing Finance Manager Paul Ranford, about the events in question as he saw them, is on the alternate Poetry Society website here. As I did not attend, I'd be glad for others' comments on what actually happened in the meeting, written with due consideration for all parties involved.

Writing book reviews

Much of what these critics say about reviewing children's books applies to book reviewing generally, in my experience. If you're interested in getting into reviewing, I think you'll find this Guardian article helpful.

My review of Mark Ford's Six Children in today's Guardian

can be read here.

The Centenary of International Women's Day

is marked by the Guardian with its list of the top 100 women, with 16 in writing and academia. Bath Spa University, where I teach, is in the midst of a week of interesting events, including two Women's Poetry Hours I organised. One will be at Bath Central Library tomorrow at 6 p.m., with myself, Dikra Ridha, Linda Saunders, and Ruth Sharman reading, Nikki Bennett hosting; the second will be held Friday at one p.m. in the Michael Tippett Centre foyer on the Newton Park campus, with a mix of local, MA, and staff poets: Daisy Behagg, Nikki Bennett, Zoe Howarth, Dikra Ridha, and Mimi Thebo, and myself hosting. Both readings are free and open to the public.

My review of Peter Reading's Vendange Tardive,

a book I highly recommend, appears in today's Guardian. At the editor's request, I originally submitted a review nearly twice the length and am happy to share it with anyone interested.

Charles Reznikoff's Holocaust,

in a new edition from Five Leaves Books, is discussed by Billy Mills in today's Guardian.

The Aldeburgh Prize shortlist's "lack of experimentation"

In this review essay in today's Guardian on the shortlisted books for the Aldeburgh first collection prize, John O'Donoghue notes "the lack of experimentation" and warmly mentions, from the Forward first collection prize shortlist, Steve Spence's A Curious Shipwreck. There's already a flurry of responses on the webpage, but the discussion quickly, predictably became unwieldy. Your thoughts would be most welcome here.

My review of Lachlan Mackinnon's Small Hours in The Guardian

My review of Lachlan Mackinnon's Small Hours, focusing on its long poem in prose, appears in today's issue of The Guardian.

Geoffrey Hill named Oxford Professor of Poetry

Hill, 78 today, was elected by a landslide; see The Guardian's articles here and here.

I'm delighted.

i.m. Alan Sillitoe, 1928-2010

The Guardian's thoughtful obituary is here. I don't know what more to say except I'm saddened.