The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Frip

Close up graphic of a green leaf. It is partially transparent on a white background, and the veins running through the leaf are clearly visible.

Drawing the clean light in and doing good

Annie Fisher reviews The Bigger Picture by D. A. Prince (HappenStance, 2022)
A soft labyrinth of signals

A soft labyrinth of signals

Hilary Menos reviews The Grass Boat by Imogen Forster (Mariscat, 2021)
Photograph showing various poetry book and pamphlet covers, all brightly coloured, or with interesting attractive designs.

Judging a book by its cover

Friday Poem eds Hilary Menos and Andy Brodie bemoan dull covers and make a plea for brightness, legibility and a bit of funky design
Photo of Samuel Tongue. He is wearing a blue shirt and has short brown hair. He is smiling and standing in front of a green hedge.

Castaway Companions

Castaway poet Samuel Tongue chooses poems by Gillian Clarke, Dylan Thomas and Alexander Hutchison for his desert island stay


Photo by Alan McRedie
Appears to be a watercolour painting in a block graphic style representing sea in the foreground and a sandy seashore behind. The whole thing has a slightly swirly pattern visible. A bit like the circle marks on an artex ceiling, but more artistic.

The wonders this lens can do!

Steven Lovatt reviews Ferenc Juhász: Selected Poems translated by David Wevill (Shearsman, 2022)
A black and white woodcut print. It is abstract in nature, but seems to show glasses, one upturned with a spider in it.

Put me in a drum and bang me

Tim Murphy reviews The Barman by Helen Bowell (Bad Betty Press, 2022)
Close up of Mike Bartholomew-Biggs' smiling face. He has light coloured hair, a greying small beard and glasses.

We certainly like our poets to be challenging in what they say but perhaps less so in how they say it!

We talk to Mike Bartholomew-Biggs from London Grip about managing poetry reviews, London Grip New Poetry, the re-launch of Poetry in the Crypt, and the joy of maths
Photograph of what looks like a goalpost at dusk. Its hard to tell though, it could be a large staple superimposed on a landscape background.

A good flow is like a fossil / it preserves the time

Bruno Cooke reviews The Lost Chronicle by Polarbear (Bloomsbury, 2022) 
Light green textured paper background with two off-centre white dots.

And far away a writer drawing a breath

Regina Weinert reviews Uneasy Pieces by Nancy Campbell (Guillemot Press 2022)
Part of a painting showing a baldheaded figure with a red nose. There is also a bird wrapped in red thread. The figure has a wooden violin tuning peg stuck in one ear.

A way of saying

Matthew Paul reviews Fool by Greta Stoddart (Bloodaxe, 2022)
Black and white print showing a black background with white horizontal stripes. A circle of this is cut out and slid down showing a white background.

The space between bars

Nell Prince reviews Angola, America by Sammy Weaver (Seren, 2022)
Photograph of a wartime Pillbox bunker on a beach.

Hunker

Following on from Steven Lovatt's evisceration of 'heft' and Chris Edgoose's denunciation of 'palimpsest', Jane Routh takes on ‘hunker'

Photo by Mathias Reding