Features

Sky blue pink

Bruno Cooke on the many faces of artist, poet and social worker Tom Stockley

Photo by Will Thomas

headshots of our twelve reviewers, what a happy bunch!

What do our regular reviewers say?

This month, to celebrate a year of voicing opinion, we asked our reviewers to tell us a bit about how, when and why they came to write / review poetry, and what they do when they just can’t get on with writing a Friday Poem review

A paper cut out of Taras Shevchenko's house. the roof is red and there is a dormer window in the roof , it looks traditional, there is a more modern building in the background and grass in the foreground

Testament

Christopher James has made a paper cut-up of the Kyiv home of Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko

Picture of Anne she has long blond hair and is smiling, there is a blurred painting in the background

Castaway Companions

Castaway poet Anne Rouse chooses poems by H.D. and Yeats, and Helen Waddell's translation of 'Die Christi Veritas', to take to a desert island

black and white portrait of Jane, head tilted, blond hair, glasses with white and grey striped frames, and a smile

A Poem Begins

Lyric Essay: A Poem Begins, by Jane Burn

abstract image of a blurred blue head on a blue background with yellow red and green leaf like paint splurges running down the left hand side

One kid looking on in wonder

Matthew Stewart explores Ben Wilkinson’s poetic development and looks at his new collection, Same Difference (Seren, 2022)

Lorna with short gray hair, she is wearing glasses.

Ups and Downs

In Conversation: Lorna Dowell talks about her first teachers at school, setting up Poetic Licence, and how creative expression is key to general well-being and mental health

One year of daft editorial pictures

We know that the more astute and observant Friday Poem readers will have been wondering WTF or even WTAF has been going on with the monthly editorial photos ...