The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Book Reviews

Section from a painting showing pair of well worn leather boots, hobnails on the soles.

Sequins stay sequins

D. A. Prince reviews The Asking: New and Selected Poems by Jane Hirshfield (Bloodaxe, 2024)
Close up photograph of a buttercup flower, blurred water is behind.

Alert, electric, alive

Maggie Mackay reviews A Change in the Air by Jane Clarke (Bloodaxe, 2023)
A blurry image that shows the sky in a light lilac hue. There are brown buildings at the bottom and three birds fly in from the right.

Across the border

Isabelle Thompson reviews Come Here to This Gate by Rory Waterman (Carcanet, 2024)
Section of what looks like a red tapestry showing a woman a unicorn and a fruit tree. the woman is sitting and the unicorn is resting its front hooves on the woman's leg. The tree remains impassive.

Embroidering a priest

Carl Tomlinson reviews Eleanor Among The Saints by Rachel Mann (Carcanet, 2024)
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)
A black background with a painting of a vertical hand. A small red snake is entwined in the fingers and the tail seems to be piercing the palm.

Regal, speared, violent

Michael Grieve reviews Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt (Penguin Books, 2024)
The words 'God Complex' in a yellow serif font on a light green background. Its a Faber cover. I think that they are a bit dull to be honest ... but you know, one person's dull is the other person's classic.

How wholly are we to be pressed?

Will Snelling reviews God Complex by Rachael Allen (Faber, 2024)
A painted book cover with a blue background. A thick swirling dark blue brush stroke bisects the page horizontally. three partial circles hover in the background like alien planets. Light blue, mid blue and (nope not another blue) red.

Pangolins and Plainsong

Annie Fisher reviews Words of Mercury by Alasdair Paterson (Shearsman Books, 2024)
Dark navy blue background with semi-circular lines in green and blue. They look a bit like the lines you draw around a radio tower or loudspeaker, to indicate vibration or noise.

A voice from the silence

Jane Routh reviews The Silence by Gillian Clarke (Carcanet, 2024)
Two poetry book covers, one purple with a white crumpled paper image and one black/brown with textures of light brown and semi transparent words.

‘How to’ Poetry — Part Two

We review books on poetry from Fly on the Wall Press and Smith|Doorstop
A misty photo showing train tracks disappearing to a vanishing point.

I eat clean but train dirty. That’s perfection.

D. A. Prince reviews Taking Liberties by Leontia Flynn (Cape, 2024)
Scrawled writing and symbols in black red and yellow completely cover a parchment-coloured background.

‘How To’ Poetry — Part One

We review books on poetry from Nine Arches Press and Roger Robinson