The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Helena Nelson

And blue things

And blue things

Helena Nelson and Hilary Menos discuss With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang (Corsair, 2024)
Photos of Nell and Hilary. Both looking studious.

Five Forward poems under the microscope

Helena Nelson and Hilary Menos discuss the five poems shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Written)
A section taken from the front cover, parts of the words "The" and "Arctic3 can be seen. Th cover is brown with cream text. What can you do?

Hanging onto Tam Lin in The Arctic

Helena Nelson reviews The Arctic by Don Paterson (Faber, 2022)
A round yellow ball with two eyes and a big smile.

This barter of enthusiasm 3

Mike Barlow, Helena Nelson and Martin Figura choose favourite funny-serious poems by e. e. cummings, Mark Halliday and Peter Howard

Smiley yellow ball photograph by Chaitanya Pillala on Unsplash
Black background covered in a myriad of small white shapes. At first the look like birds, but as one looks more closely they look like small abstract figures on horseback. Or maybe on camels. Who knows?

Uncharted territory

Helena Nelson reviews Imperium by Jay Gao (Carcanet, 2022)
Protection

Protection

by Helena Nelson — You need to understand the context. / There’s an English verb: ‘to be in mourning’ / and it applies to me and I am in it. / I’m in mourning for my sister who has died / so when they talk about 'women in mourning' / I relate to that.
A pastel hued watercolour of two older people in a squashy bed/ A woman on the left and a man on the right. They are wearing pyjamas and appear to be sleeping in a loose embrace

He turns to her, she turns to him

Annie Fisher reviews Pearls: the complete Mr and Mrs Philpott poems by Helena Nelson (HappenStance, 2022)
a hand holding a pen with a blue winners rosette attached to it

The Competition Poem

Is there such a thing as the competition poem? And, if there is, how do you write it? The Frip talks to Ian Duhig, Helena Nelson and Christopher James to find out
Black and white head and shoulders photo of Helena Nelson smiling into the camera against the background of a field

Poetry editors have a love/hate relationship with poetry

In Conversation: The Friday Poem talks to Helena Nelson about the future of poetry publishing, the cult of personality and where to find good poetry today