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Richie McCaffery

 lives in Warkworth, Northumberland. He’s the author of four poetry pamphlets — Spinning Plates (HappenStance Press, 2012), Ballast Flint (Cromarty Arts Trust, 2013), First Hare (Mariscat Press, 2020) and Coping Stones (Fras Publications, 2021), and two full collections, both from Nine Arches Press — Cairn (2014) and Passport (2018). He’s also the editor of Finishing the Picture: Collected Poems of Ian Abbot (Kennedy and Boyd, 2015), The Tiny Talent: Selected Poems by Joan Ure (Brae Editions, 2018) and Sydney Goodsir Smith: Essays on his life and work (Brill, 2020).

    Section from a book cover. The background is purple and some block capital letters in pink , yellow, green and white are arranged in a uniform block pattern.

    Time to swim

    Richie McCaffery reviews Hard Drive by Paul Stephenson (Carcanet, 2023)
    A bold orange cover showing a line / brush outline of a male torso.

    A rebozo threaded by an ancient needle

    Richie McCaffery reviews At Least This I Know by Andrés N. Ordorica (404 Ink, 2022)
    This is a dark book cover (could have guessed really, "Mouth of Shadows" and all that). The image looks like the inside of a cave (think "Lord of the Rings") a light comes from above and throws a circular glow on the floor.

    Murderous parrots eat souls

    Richie McCaffery reviews Mouth of Shadows by Tim Murphy (SurVision Books, 2022)
    Black and white detail from a woodcut showing skeletons marching and clambering, some playing horns.

    Limited only by things unseen

    Richie McCaffery reviews Hex and Other Poems by Shane McCrae (Bad Betty, 2022)
    An open book with a colourful party blower resting on the pages. The words "Matilda told such Dreadful Lies, She should have looked after her teeth" are just about visible above it.

    This barter of enthusiasm

    Funny poems by Norman MacCaig, William Makepeace Thackeray and Alexander Hutchison, chosen by Chris Edgoose, D.A. Prince and Richie McCaffery
    A woman's chest, her hands are beginning to unbutton her white top.

    Luve’s arcane delirium

    Richie McCaffery reviews The Mouth of Eulalie by Annie Brechin (Blue Diode, 2022)
    three book covers in a fan shape, one has blue and grey vertical stripes, one has a pattern of hexagonal cells a bit like a hive with a black and white bee on it, one is green with a painting of a mother and daughter

    Three pamphlets: Erica Gillingham, Stephen Payne and Khadija Rouf

    Rachael Matthews reviews The Human Body is a Hive by Erica Gillingham, Richie McCaffery reviews The Wax Argument by Steven Payne, and Bruno Cooke reviews House Work by Khadija Rouf
    What does Richie McCaffery say?

    What does Richie McCaffery say?

    I took a fairly predictable teenage route into poetry, discovering Dylan Thomas and falling under his spell ...
    Close up of Elizabeth Burns face, her head is tilted and she is wearing oval glasses

    Parcels of light

    Richie McCaffery looks at the poetry of Elizabeth Burns
    Two books with mostly white covers. one cover has a blackened rib, the other a small picture of a blue open door

    Essential poetry from Wayleave Press

    Richie McCaffery reviews two Wayleave Press pamphlets — Rib by Sharon Black and After by Jane Routh
    Three pamphlets arranged in a loose fan shape. 'Diary of a Divorce' shows a woman standing in a doorway, 'the hispering' features an abstract figure that looks a bit like an upside down doll and 'Crucifox' has an arresting yellow graphic of a fox head with a direct gaze

    Three pamphlets: S. D. Curtis, Sarah Hymas and Geraldine Clarkson

    Richie McCaffery reviews Diary of a Divorce by S. D. Curtis, Carla Scarano D'Antonio reviews the hispering by Sarah Hymas, and Hilary Menos reviews Crucifox by Geraldine Clarkson
    part of the cover of the book The Slowing Ride by Will Stone; looks like broken glazed tiles in turquoise and green and grey, there's a bit of a female face in the middle but mostly it's just cracked and weird

    Then the great wheel began to turn

    Richie McCaffery reviews The Slowing Ride by Will Stone (Shearsman, 2020)
    Book cover The Coming-Down Time by Robert Selby showing two rustic types planting a tree

    An England both fertile and funereal

    Richie McCafferey reviews The Coming-Down Time by Robert Selby (Shoestring, 2020)
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    27/01/2022

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