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Helena Nelson

 is a poet, critic, and publisher, founding editor of  and , and Consulting Editor at The Friday Poem. Her first collection, Starlight on Water (Rialto, 2003), was a Jerwood / Aldeburgh First Collection winner. Her second was Plot and Counterplot (Shoestring, 2010). She also writes and publishes light verse, including Down With Poetry! (HappenStance, 2016) and Branded (Red Squirrel, 2019). Her most recent collection is PEARLS: The Complete Mr & Mrs Philpott Poems (HappenStance, 2022).

    And blue things

    And blue things

    Helena Nelson and Hilary Menos discuss With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang (Corsair, 2024)
    Blue and white illustration, possibly a lino cut showing a blue cup on its side with spilt liquid. The cup has an illustration that looks like Lewis Carroll's Alice.

    Stuffed Monkey and Other Considerations

    Helena Nelson reviews After the Rites and Sandwiches by Kathy Pimlott (Emma Press, 2024)
    Photos of Nell and Hilary. Both looking studious.

    Five Forward poems under the microscope

    Helena Nelson and Hilary Menos discuss the five poems shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Written)
    A landscape photograph showing grass, a cloudy sky and a small crenelated building with a tower that looks like a lighthouse, but is presumably a camera obscura

    The strong verbs

    Helena Nelson reviews Camera Obscura by Philip Rush (Garlic Press, 2023)
    Black background with geometric shapes in orange, mostly triangles.

    Nothing left to carve but the eye

    Helena Nelson reviews Exposure by Eric Yip (Ignition Press, 2024)
    Dark blue background. On this are two light blue outlines of hands, open palms upwards. Some beige swirling lines are behind.

    Let poems be the windows, not the views

    Helena Nelson reviews Divisible by Itself and One by Kae Tempest (Picador, 2023)
    Coloured drawing showing the mind map process. There is a small picture of a woman's head in the centre and lines of text on various colours running all over the page a little like the branches of a tree.

    Everything so insistently next to everything else

    Helena Nelson mind-maps Absence by Ali Lewis (Cheerio, 2024)
    Illustration of a 1950's style woman getting ready to stab a python with a dagger. I know right! Pretty racey for poetry (It's even got a yellow background!). I'll take it over an abstract thought doodle though.

    Are Poetry Reviews Pointless?

    Helena Nelson plays with Shapeshifting for Beginners by Emma Simon (Salt, 2023)
    A book cover showing what looks like two purple tinted, torn paper images of a woman's face . One shows two eyes and a bit of nose, the other shows one eye , half a nose and a mouth.

    ‘What is the language using us for?’

    Helena Nelson reviews Isdal by Susannah Dickey (Picador, 2023)
    Photograph of a muddy track leading into a woodland. The trees leaves are a vivid green and it looks like it has been raining.

    A simple tree rooted in a quiet dream

    Helena Nelson considers the pros and cons of Tree Poetry 
    Image showing the painting 'The Goldfish' by Paul Klee. It shows, unsurprisingly, a goldfish on a textured blue background; there are other small fish artfully arranged (well it is your actual Paul Klee innit) in the corners.

    What are poets really after?

    Helena Nelson considers the pros and cons of the ‘after’ epigraph, poetry’s exclusive codes, and the necessary art of bluffing
    Big white text on a black background. Parts of the words "The" and "Big" . Its striking if you like that monochrome block capitals kind of thing.

    Meanwhile in Camelot

    Helena Nelson reviews The Big Calls by Glyn Maxwell (Live Canon, 2023)
    A section taken from the front cover, parts of the words "The" and "Arctic3 can be seen. Th cover is brown with cream text. What can you do?

    Hanging onto Tam Lin in The Arctic

    Helena Nelson reviews The Arctic by Don Paterson (Faber, 2022)
    Black background covered in a myriad of small white shapes. At first the look like birds, but as one looks more closely they look like small abstract figures on horseback. Or maybe on camels. Who knows?

    Uncharted territory

    Helena Nelson reviews Imperium by Jay Gao (Carcanet, 2022)
    a hand holding a pen with a blue winners rosette attached to it

    The Competition Poem

    Is there such a thing as the competition poem? And, if there is, how do you write it? The Frip talks to Ian Duhig, Helena Nelson and Christopher James to find out
    Black and white head and shoulders photo of Helena Nelson smiling into the camera against the background of a field

    Poetry editors have a love/hate relationship with poetry

    In Conversation: The Friday Poem talks to Helena Nelson about the future of poetry publishing, the cult of personality and where to find good poetry today
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    03/05/2023

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