The Frip

Section of a multi coloured book cover (think slightly psychedelic swirly greens pinks and purples). Part of the words "Dirty Martini" can be seen in block capitals.

SEQUINS NOW

Isabelle Thompson reviews Dirty Martini by Natalie Shaw (Broken Sleep Books, 2023)

A close up black and white picture of a fallen wine glass, and dark liquid is splashing out.

Blown like glass into brittle intricacies

Hilary Menos reviews Slide by Mark Pajak (Cape, 2022)

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

Imagine a map, then make the canvas black and take away everything apart from the roads (in off-white) and some dots where settlements might be, there you have it.

玫瑰, गुलाब, rose

D.A. Prince reviews After all we have travelled by Sarala Estruch (Nine Arches Press, 2023)

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

Mostly orange and orange tinted cover showing what looks like a woman's face half hidden by something that appears to be a vertical semi transparent column with thin diagonal white stripes on it.

Monsoon night-song

Steven Lovatt reviews Mother of Flip-Flops by Mukahang Limbu (Out-Spoken Press, 2022)

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)

Delicate watercolour showing thin branches with red flowers and two small birds flying nearby.

There are some things that can’t be washed away

Tim Murphy reviews Sing Me Down from the Dark by Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana (Salt, 2022)

Now, If you have been paying attention you will have noticed my increasing frustration with book covers that really show no effort. This one is kind of pinkish with a cartridge paper like lined texture, almost as if they hade made the cover from, well, pinkish cartridge paper.

Images of aftermath

Mat Riches reviews Exposed Staircase by Will Eaves (Rack Press, 2022)

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