The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Frip

Photo of Kathy Pimlott. She has short grey hair, glasses and is holding a glass of wine. She is wearing ablue polo necked jumper and a necklace of orange wooden beads. Photo by Matthew Paul.

Castaway Companions

Castaway Kathy Pimlott choses poems by Roger McGough, John Keats and Mimi Khalvati for her desert island stay


Photo by Matthew Paul
Partial book cover photograph showing a city at night from above. Traffic and lights can be seen, and a flyover. Black, grey and red are the main colours.

A change in the momentum of the world

Victoria Moul reviews The Thirteenth Angel by Philip Gross (Bloodaxe, 2022)
Composite image made from two book covers showing (on the left) an abstract shoreline with sky and (on the right) an abstract grey background with white squiggles and brown leaflike squiggles. I know, so many abstract images! It seems to be a poetry thing, the abstract image. Sometimes you get a nice picture of a friendly dog, or a cow. But mostly it's an abstract thing.

More sea than land, more sky than earth

Jane Routh reviews After Clare by William Thompson (New Walk 2022) and A Separate Appointment by Rebecca Farmer (New Walk, 2022)
Black and white photo of Chris Hamilton-Emery. He is outside with sea in the background and is wearing a newsboy hat, tinted glasses and a neckerchief.

We have to find the right authors and the right commercial strategy to recover. It may take us five years

The Frip talks to Chris Hamilton-Emery, poet and director of Salt Publishing
What looks like a Japanese wood cut showing four warriors in black and white.

In the Light of Rocket Flares

Maryann Corbett reviews 'One Hundred Visions of War', a translation by Alfred Nicol of 'Cent Visions de Guerre' by Julien Vocance (Wiseblood Books, 2022)
Textured image in charcoal and grey. It's probably tea.

Language walking across borders

D.A. Prince reviews Colours & Tea (Human) by Tomi Adegbayibi (Muscaliet Press, 2022)
Twenty four Quotes About Poetry: Who Said What?

Twenty four Quotes About Poetry: Who Said What?

Grab a cuppa and have a go at our Twenty Quotes About Poetry Quiz — Who Said What?
A photograph showing an open hand with some dried flowers on it. The background is pink

Trains necklacing the night

Mat Riches reviews Climacteric by Jo Bratten (Fly On The Wall Press, 2022)
A composite image made of six images, comprising a man looking at distant fireworks, a ticking bomb, a candle, some cows in a field, some burning paper and a pair of moccasins.I know right. You'll have to read the article to find out.

Help the next person find their way through the dark

We have picked six New Year's poems with a difference to help you navigate the end of one year and the beginning of the next
A collage showing a rocky landscape next to the sea with various objects superimposed, more information is in the screen-reader text on our Christmas Quiz page

The Friday Poem Christmas Quiz

Try your hand at the Friday Poem 2022 Christmas Quiz
Old copperplate writing on a white background.

Murders, thefts and debts, quarrels and ‘domestics’

Jane Routh reviews Testimonies by Hamish Whyte (HappenStance Press, 2022)
A collection of six images showing a snowflake, a Christmas tree, a turkey, a close up of a hand removing a decoration from a tree, a black Santa and a toy train set.

Six Christmas Poems

Christmas poems by Louis MacNeice, e.e. cummings, Benjamin Zephaniah, James Arthur, Allison Joseph and Jane Kenyon

Unsplash images from Darius Cotoi, edik niko, Suzy Brooks and Zachary Delorenzo