Book Reviews
![Three large fishhooks dangling on what looks like hemp rope, a small green (jade?) fish swims between them.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Nuala-Watt-Jade-Fish-320x225.jpg)
My oddly capable body
Isabelle Thompson reviews The Department of Work and Pensions Assesses a Jade Fish by Nuala Watt (Blue Diode, 2024)
![Curved off-white lines in a slightly art deco style, or maybe resembling pipes in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory surround the word Contra-flow in a block capital decorative font. All of this is on a dark brown background.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Contraflow-front-cover-320x225.jpg)
The little Englands of my grief
Hilary Menos reviews Contraflow: Lines of Englishness 1922–2022, selected by John Greening & Kevin Gardner (Renard, 2023)
![Abstract black lines on a grey background. Some go up in a diagonal way describing, I dunno, possibly an upside down ice cream cone. Some curve upwards like branches of an abstract tree. Kinda jazzy man.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Something-I-forget-640-320x225.jpg)
Flashes of brightwork
Victoria Moul reviews Something, I Forget by Angela Leighton (Carcanet, 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.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Mind-Map-Nell-640-320x225.jpg)
Everything so insistently next to everything else
Helena Nelson mind-maps Absence by Ali Lewis (Cheerio, 2024)
![Photograph of a long shed-like house on iron stilts.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Between-a-Drowning-Man-by-Martyn-Crucefix-320x225.jpg)
All the bridges are down
Carl Tomlinson reviews Between A Drowning Man by Martyn Crucefix (Salt, 2023)
![Part of a slightly abstract painting showing (I think) a mirror (or window), a blue door, and some red vertical lines that could be curtains ... or a draped scarf ... or something.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/The-Sessions--320x225.jpg)
This ritual of witness and professionalism
D.A. Prince reviews The Sessions by Jonathan Totman (Pindrop Press, 2023)
![Letters from the book title arranged vertically in three columns on a grey-green background. The letters are coloured in patterns go green and white that seem to suggest leaves, or trees. Yeah, I dunno either.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Missing-Person-by-Nick-Hogg-cover-320x225.jpg)
The man will carry this void
Rory Waterman reviews Missing Person by Nicholas Hogg (Broken Sleep Books, 2023)
![A waterfall on a foggy mountainside. It's high, and the middle of ... well, you get it.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/High-Nowhere--320x225.jpg)
We have an opportunity to listen
Maggie Mackay reviews High Nowhere by Jean Atkin (Indigo Dreams, 2023)
![A black and white beetle seen from above on white textured paper.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/I-Think-Were-Alone-Now-by-Abigail-Parry-front-cover-320x225.jpg)
The dull click-clink of gold against formica
Isabelle Thompson reviews I Think We’re Alone Now by Abigail Parry (Bloodaxe Books, 2023)
![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.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Shapeshifting-for-Beginners-by-Emma-Simon-320x225.jpg)
Are Poetry Reviews Pointless?
Helena Nelson plays with Shapeshifting for Beginners by Emma Simon (Salt, 2023)
![Section from the book cover. An abstract image that could be a sun and yellow sand, but ... you know.](https://thefridaypoem.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Rope-Of-Sand-Cover-HIGH-RES-320x225.jpg)
Form it from loosestrife, form it remorselessly
Stephen Payne reviews Rope of Sand by Fiona Larkin (Pindrop Press, 2023)