The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Book Reviews

The blue violinist by Marc Chagall showing aviolinist dressed in blue:green on a blue background. His cheeks are red and he has a white bird on his shoulder.

Writing this warring world

Jeremy Wikeley reviews Vevel’s Violin by Jacqueline Saphra (Nine Arches Press, 2023)
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)
Pieces of text in red and gold on a dark blue book cover.

Waves of lavender shadow growing darker in their blueness

Alan Buckley reviews Up Late by Nick Laird (Faber, 2023)
Painting in bright colours showing a copse of trees.

The forest’s edge

Charlotte Gann reviews Beyond the Gate by Clare Best (Worple Press, 2023)
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)
Whimsical illustration showing a hill with roads twisting between rocks and a castle atop.

Something honeylike that makes me lean in closer

D.A. Prince reviews Before We Go Any Further by Tristram Fane Saunders (Carcanet, 2023)
Abstract. A red splodge on a black splurge on a yellow squidge.

* […] Mol is an imaginary friend, the latest fad everyone wants to get their hands on [go to page 18]

Isabelle Thompson reviews Making Sense by Dide (Verve Poetry, 2023)
Illustration showing a stylised dandelion head with the seeds blowing around. A red ribbon curls across the page.

A tinderbox to light all the world’s wanting

Rachael Matthews reviews The Home Child by Liz Berry (Chatto & Windus, 2023)
Ink line drawing on crumpled cartridge paper. A round face looks almost like a tribal mask with an open mouth and a block bad around and across the eyes (though we can still see the eyes). The nose is a triangle.

No one wears Brooches anymore

Hilary Menos reviews Savage Tales by Tara Bergin (Carcanet, 2022
Section of a book cover. The background is blue and parts of the letters A and F are shown in a bold yellow font.

To hear their voice bounce off the shape of things

Rory Waterman reviews This Afterlife: Selected Poems by A. E. Stallings (Carcanet, 2022)
Part of a painting showing the inside of a house and a long corridor. The lighting suggests it could be evening.

A basic beginning in tegnsprog

Carl Tomlinson reviews The House of the Interpreter by Lisa Kelly (Carcanet, 2023)
Pen and ink slightly washed out picture of a man's face.

The weight of history

Matthew Paul reviews Selected Poems 1983–2023 by Ian Parks (Calder Valley Poetry, 2023)