The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

New Frip

Close up of large lettering on an orange background, the lettering contains a photograph showing what looks like a shoreline.

What’s left at the end of the world

Maggie Mackay reviews Sensitive to Temperature by Serena Alagappan (Smith|Doorstop Books, 2023)
Painting of a man with a pipe looking into an oval mirror.

Paradise of garagistes

Chris Edgoose reviews Impasse: for Jules Maigret by Sean O’Brien (Hercules Editions, 2023)
Pieces of text in red and gold on a dark blue book cover.

Waves of lavender shadow growing darker in their blueness

Alan Buckley reviews Up Late by Nick Laird (Faber, 2023)
Painting in bright colours showing a copse of trees.

The forest’s edge

Charlotte Gann reviews Beyond the Gate by Clare Best (Worple Press, 2023)
A yellow squiggle on a greyish background. Well I suppose, given the subject matter, it could be a mathematical symbol. But if you just think squiggle you'll probably be closer.

They cannot subtract me

Stephen Payne reviews Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science by Jessy Randall (Goldsmiths Press, 2022)
Whimsical illustration showing a hill with roads twisting between rocks and a castle atop.

Something honeylike that makes me lean in closer

D.A. Prince reviews Before We Go Any Further by Tristram Fane Saunders (Carcanet, 2023)
Abstract. A red splodge on a black splurge on a yellow squidge.

* […] Mol is an imaginary friend, the latest fad everyone wants to get their hands on [go to page 18]

Isabelle Thompson reviews Making Sense by Dide (Verve Poetry, 2023)
Drawing of a cow with wings on a pink background. It is saying 'Bong' and it's by Spike Milligan.

Poetry for children: where do we start?

Annie Fisher gathers together the best children's poetry, and the best children's poetry anthologies
Photo of Katrina standing on the shore. Crab pots are behind her. Photo by Joe Grabham.

A curlew flings its loop of sound

Rowan Bell travels to Amble to talk to poet, historian and broadcaster Katrina Porteous
Photograph of a muddy track leading into a woodland. The trees leaves are a vivid green and it looks like it has been raining.

A simple tree rooted in a quiet dream

Helena Nelson considers the pros and cons of Tree Poetry 
An owl (Google say's it's a barn owl) sitting on a leather gauntlet.

The Lies of Owls

Rebecca Ferrier explores truth, doubt, and lies in poetry, and looks at how poems can act as windows into our past selves
Christopher Arksey looking at the camera. He's wearing glasses and a striped top.

New, hopeful arrangements

Christopher Arksey chooses poems by Philip Larkin, Christopher Reid and U.A. Fanthorpe to take to his desert island