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Mat Riches

Part of book cover showing Kite form by Mike Barlow — a piece of abstract art (because we have learnt by now that nothing says competent poet more than a bit of random abstract artwork). Painted driftwood is the background to geometric shapes in shades of blue. These are criss crossed with bits of fine string. Told you ... poetry.

To walk, move the ground backwards

Mat Riches reviews Spider Time by William Gilson (Wayleave Press, 2022)

Continue readingTo walk, move the ground backwards
Now, If you have been paying attention you will have noticed my increasing frustration with book covers that really show no effort. This one is kind of pinkish with a cartridge paper like lined texture, almost as if they hade made the cover from, well, pinkish cartridge paper.

Images of aftermath

Mat Riches reviews Exposed Staircase by Will Eaves (Rack Press, 2022)

Continue readingImages of aftermath
A photograph showing an open hand with some dried flowers on it. The background is pink

Trains necklacing the night

Mat Riches reviews Climacteric by Jo Bratten (Fly On The Wall Press, 2022)

Continue readingTrains necklacing the night
What looks like an acrylic painting of vines, berries and white flowers.

You make a mirrorball out of the rain

Mat Riches reviews Glut by Ramona Herdman (Nine Arches, 2022)

Continue readingYou make a mirrorball out of the rain
Naive painting of the backs of two people sitting on a wall, one has a red headscarf and orange skirt, one is dressed in black

The cruelty and largesse of high water

Mat Riches reviews Summer / Break by Richie McCaffery (Shoestring, 2022)

Continue readingThe cruelty and largesse of high water
Part of a painting of an Old Testament scene where white-bearded patriarch Methuselah has instructed Noah to open a prophetic scroll which foretells the flood sent by God. Circling ravens add to the sense of foreboding, while antediluvian revellers continue their dancing in the middle distance, oblivious of the devastation to come.

The end of history?

Mat Riches reviews You have no normal country to return to by Tom Sastry (Nine Arches, 2022)

Continue readingThe end of history?
Matt Riches

What does Mat Riches say?

I got into poetry by accident. I remember writing some sort of rhyming thing around the age of five ...

Continue readingWhat does Mat Riches say?
Three pamphlet covers arranged in a fan shape, one has a health worker in PPE on a blue background, one is yellow with black text running down the centre of the page and one is half white with purple text , the other half has what may be a woodcut in what may be ethnic patterns.

Three pamphlets: Martin Figura, Leontia Flynn and Naush Sabah

Khadija Rouf reviews My Name is Mercy by Martin Figura (Fair Acre, 2021), Hilary Menos reviews Nina Simone is Singing by Leontia Flynn (Mariscat Press, 2021), and Mat Riches reviews Litanies by Naush Sabah (Guillemot, 2021)

Continue readingThree pamphlets: Martin Figura, Leontia Flynn and Naush Sabah
Three pamphlet covers arranged in a fan shape, one has a photograph of a river crossing sand to the sea, one has what looks like an abstract pattern of leaves in shades of brown and one is very pale green with block text in a kind of marbled pattern.

Three pamphlets: Matthew Hollis, Holly Singlehurst and Gboyega Odubanjo

Steven Lovatt reviews Leaves by Matthew Hollis, Mat Riches reviews The Sea Turned Thick as Honey by Holly Singlehurst, and Hilary Menos reviews Aunty Uncle Poems by Gboyega Odubanjo

Continue readingThree pamphlets: Matthew Hollis, Holly Singlehurst and Gboyega Odubanjo
Black and white image showing mathematical drawings and equations.

Let trigons be trigons

Mat Riches reviews The Windmill Proof by Stephen Payne (HappenStance, 2021)

Continue readingLet trigons be trigons
Three book covers. One with six colourful graphics including a bear and a blow up flamingo, one pink sparkle with a chrome compact mirror and one green with black and dark green text

Three pamphlets: Richie McCaffery, Phoebe Stuckes and Julia Bird

Mat Riches reviews Coping Stones by Richie McCaffery, Emma Simon reviews The One Girl Gremlin by Phoebe Stuckes and Hilary Menos reviews is, thinks Pearl by Julia Bird

Continue readingThree pamphlets: Richie McCaffery, Phoebe Stuckes and Julia Bird
Front cover of book 'When I Think of my Body as a Horse' by Wendy Pratt, showing a horse with musculature visible

Body, you are beautiful, you are beautiful

Mat Riches reviews When I Think of my Body as a Horse by Wendy Pratt (Smith|Doorstop, 2021)

Continue readingBody, you are beautiful, you are beautiful
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