The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Features

Photo of Kim Moore with a purple track suit style top. She has red hair and she is leaning against a tree.

Poetry and Everyday Sexism

We talk to Kim Moore about everyday sexism, her recent Forward prize-winning poetry collection All the Men I Never Married, and her new collection of lyric essays Are You Judging Me Yet?
A still from the 2D block game Minecraft. A small figure with a sword is running towards a large dragon ... One way or another it's going to be carnage.

You are the player. Wake up.

Inigo Brodie on the story behind the Minecraft End Poem, and how sometimes poetry is the only option


Ender Dragon Image: Mojang/Microsoft
We see the back of a young girl standing on the stage at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. She is wearing a denim jacket and her arms are outstretched.

Choose a poem, learn it by heart, share it out loud

Julie Blake, co-founder of Poetry By Heart, talks about the benefits of learning poetry, the joys of performance, and the Poetry By Heart national poetry speaking competition

Photos by Sam Strickland
A photograph showing Reg Varney sitting in his London bus.If you're old enough you'll remember 'On the buses'. "That's made my day that has, that's really made my day."

This barter of enthusiasm 5

Matthew Paul, Charlotte Gann and Rory Waterman choose poems by Geoff Hattersley, Kathy Pimlott and Wendy Cope
Close up of text on Elizabeth Bishop's gravestone. Under her name It says "All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful"

All Quite Thoroughly Dirty (Part Two)

Alan Buckley continues his close reading of ‘Filling Station’ by Elizabeth Bishop (Part Two)
A woman holding a microphone. She is on stage with some funky purple and blue lighting.

This is for the poets

Bruno Cooke says the new Forward Prize category for Best Single Poem – Performed shows that the literary establishment is finally starting to take an interest in Spoken Word Poetry
Black and white photo showing Elizabeth Bishop standing in front of some rocks.

All Quite Thoroughly Dirty

Alan Buckley looks at ‘Filling Station’ by Elizabeth Bishop (Part One)
A photograph of Phillip Gross. He is looking quizzical and has grey hair and a beard.

The difficult visiting times

Philip Gross discusses writing poetry about his family in The Wasting Game and Deep Field, the importance of self-knowledge, and what makes a 'good' poem
A photograph of Mercy and Jordan in Kampala. They are smiling.

Poetry in Uganda

Rowan Bell visits Kampala and meets Mercy Geno Apachi, performance poet, and Jordan Megolonyo, founder of the Klan poetry house
Black and white photograph showing a poet sitting outside at a tiny table with a typewriter. There is a handwritten sign saying "Poet for hire, pay what you like".

26 things you only know if you’re a poet

by Tim Relf
A black and white photograph of a woman's face; she is smiling.

This barter of enthusiasm 4

Mat Riches, Jane Routh and Alan Buckley choose favourite funny-serious poems by Matthew Sweeney, Michael McCarthy and Kathryn Maris
Poetry books on a bookshelf, at least forty of them. I am not going to list them all here, but many appear in the article.

What’s on Maria Taylor’s bookshelf?

British Cypriot poet and reviewer Maria Taylor tells us which books have been important to her in her life and in her poetry