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The Friday Poem

The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

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Stephen Payne

black and white photograph of a park bench. There is a small backpack on one end. A glass and a bottle are nearby.

Embraceable You

Stephen Payne reviews Last Poems? by Brendan Cleary (Tall Lighthouse Press, 2023)

Continue readingEmbraceable You
Two green arrows show road directions and the letters A34 are shown in yellow.

What clings to its underside

Stephen Payne reviews House on the A34 by Philip Hancock (CB Editions, 2023)

Continue readingWhat clings to its underside
Section from the book cover. An abstract image that could be a sun and yellow sand, but ... you know.

Form it from loosestrife, form it remorselessly

Stephen Payne reviews Rope of Sand by Fiona Larkin (Pindrop Press, 2023)

Continue readingForm it from loosestrife, form it remorselessly
A yellow squiggle on a greyish background. Well I suppose, given the subject matter, it could be a mathematical symbol. But if you just think squiggle you'll probably be closer.

They cannot subtract me

Stephen Payne reviews Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science by Jessy Randall (Goldsmiths Press, 2022)

Continue readingThey cannot subtract me

What does Stephen Payne say?

Beginnings and favourites. I enjoyed Keats at O 'Level, but not as much as Maths and Physics. The first poetry I fell hard for ...

Continue readingWhat does Stephen Payne say?
What looks like an ancient Greek plate or bowl. A bloke with a bad back seems to be have been bitten by a snake and he is gesticulating towards a reclining fellow who is possibly having his heart pecked out by a large bird of prey. Lotta blood, but they were rough in them days.

Lots wider inside than it looks

Stephen Payne reviews The Nature Thief by Henry Walters (The Waywiser Press, 2022)

Continue readingLots wider inside than it looks
Avid alt text readers will notice that sometimes I am at a loss to pull meaning from a bewildering array of abstract book covers, this one is more figurative in nature, though not entirely clear. It appears to be painting of a crystal fruit bowl with what looks like an explosion of silhouetted grapes ... or cherries ... fruit anyway ... or maybe berries.

More life!

Stephen Payne reviews Scenes from Life on Earth by Kathryn Simmonds (Salt, 2022)

Continue readingMore life!
A drawing of a horses head, the head is looking at us and seems to be on the body of a woman wearing a blue coat. The background is cream and white.

Bone white, star bright

Stephen Payne reviews Feeling Unusual by Ann Drysdale (Shoestring Press, 2022)

Continue readingBone white, star bright
looks like a sculpture of a red haired woman with wings (angel or dragon?) holding on to the left arm of a male figure.

I would make a language out of this

Stephen Payne reviews Speechless at Inch by James Caruth (Smith|Doorstop, 2021)

Continue readingI would make a language out of this
Photo of a meat market porter at work

The page my barrow and my charge the word

Book Review: Stephen Payne reviews The Resurrectionists by John Challis (Bloodaxe, 2021)

Continue readingThe page my barrow and my charge the word

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