The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Features

A photograph of Taylor Swift taking a vinyl disc from its sleeve. the album is hers, the cover shows the normal rock'n'roll stuff, you know, woman in underwear lying on a bed etc.

Lunar valleys in my mind

Is Taylor Swift a 'tortured poet'? Bruno Cooke listens to her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, to find out
Collage made up of pictures from the instagram feed of the poets mentioned in the article. There are images of the poets looking direct to camera and also some words such as 'compassion must prevail'. Also a cat sitting on a table.

Poetry on social media: riding the wave

Bruno Cooke looks at three poets who successfully integrate social media into their poetic method
Photograph of Helen Evans. She has short grey hair and is clasping her hands and leaning to her left.

Castaway Companions

Helen Evans chooses poems by Mary Oliver, William Stafford and Marie Howe, plus Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Kathryn Maris and Rebecca Elson
A young man with a small beard is reading poetry into a microphone, reading from a mobile phone and waving a clenched fist.

The air is full of love

Bruno Cooke checks out a Lyrical Lunacy poetry open mic night in Bangkok
Ryan Van Winkle standing in front of a stone wall. He has glasses and a grey jacket.

In Conversation with Ryan Van Winkle

We talk to Ryan Van Winkle, the new Artistic Director for StAnza
Photograph of a pattern poem showing horizontal and vertical lines of text with the letters SALVS superimposed.

Medieval Pattern Poems of Rabanus Maurus

Sam Dolbear and Adam Green look at some 9th century examples of "pattern poetry"
Photo of Sarah Leavesley standing in front of a brick wall. She is holding two bits of a picture frame. Oh! She's framed! But the bits of frame have words on ... 'Only ever part-' on the top one and '-ially framed' on the bottom one. Oh, I get it now. Clever.

Castaway Companions

Sarah Leavesley chooses poems by Matthew Arnold, Jacques Prévert and Lorine Niedecker
Cliff Yates' poetry bookshelf — a shelf with poetry books on.

Staring an instant out of the dark

Cliff Yates treats us to a tour of his poetry bookshelf
A photograph of someone diving into the sea. We can only see the legs.

‘Next time you dive’ (or How to play a poem)

Jon Stone takes a deep dive into how he approaches a poem
Photo of Jill Abram. She has long curly hair and is standing in front of trees.

Castaway Companions

Jill Abram chooses poems by Edward Lear, Lemn Sissay and Jacqueline Saphra to take to her desert island
Photo of Zoë Walkington. She has long dark hair and is smiling. She is standing in a field with trees behind her.

Uncomfortable Bedfellows – Criminal Psychology and Writing Poetry

Zoë Walkington on how she managed to merge her two identities as poet and psychologist
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.

Are Poetry Reviews Pointless?

Helena Nelson plays with Shapeshifting for Beginners by Emma Simon (Salt, 2023)