Book Reviews

A white plastic safety helmet floats on the water; underneath it numerous goose barnacles are attached.

What belongs outside, and what comes in

Isabelle Thompson reviews May Swim by Katie Donovan (Bloodaxe, 2024)

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)

A drawing in green on an off-white background. Looks a bit like a musical instrument, could be a mandolin or maybe a lyre.

La vigne fait maille pour maille

Victoria Moul reviews Rainer Maria Rilke, Change Your Life. Essential Poems, selected, translated and introduced by Martyn Crucefix (Pushkin Press Classics, 2024).

A window at night with twilight streaming through. Or it could be a streetlight. Twilight is more poetic though, innit?

The art of loneliness

Annie Fisher reviews Night Window by Ian Seed (Shearsman, 2024)

Graphic showing an orange circle on a yellow background. A yellow shape like a small lightbulb dangles into the top of the circle.

O linger Sapphos of the lash-line!

Alan Buckley reviews PLUS ULTRA by Sarah Fletcher (CHEERIO, 2023)

A tangle of snow covered beaches, a small red bird sits on one, from a distance it could be mistaken for a heart.

I with my mother became we

Maggie Mackay reviews Grief’s Alphabet by Carrie Etter (Seren, 2024)

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)

Two luminescent jellyfish (presumably of the 'moon' variety) on a blue background.

Watch how we glow

Karen Smith reviews Moon Jellyfish Can Barely Swim by Ness Owen (Parthian, 2023)

Artwork in a graphic style showing the back of a man walking towards a tall building with many windows. The sky appears to be on fire.

That day when we can watch it fall

Steven Lovatt reviews Joe Hill Makes His Way into the Castle by Katy Evans-Bush (CB Editions, 2024)

Photograph of two people walking on the beach at low tide. A shadowy coaster is seen in the background. This may or may not be relevant.

There now

D. A. Prince reviews This is You, Dear Stranger by Paula Jennings (Red Squirrel Press, 2024)

Image of a white skull on a black background. The skull has a pink flower in the right eye socket.

Say I was born in peacetime

Annie Fisher reviews Ruin, Blossom by John Burnside (Cape, 2024)

Oh tears and blood

Hilary Menos reviews The Snow Globe by Jenny Pagdin (Nine Arches, 2024)