The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Frip

Photo of John Glenday sitting outside in front of a bridge. He is wearing a blue shirt and has a short grey beard and greying hair.

We can never be passengers any more

Alan Buckley gives us his close reading of the poem 'The Walkers' by John Glenday
Pop Art-style graphic showing a 50s style pin-up girl lounging on a big old American car.

Hope is a thing with 1. Fur 2. Down 3. Feathers 4. An exoskeleton

Hilary Menos reviews I Dreamed I Was Emily Dickinson’s Boyfriend by Ron Koertge (Red Hen Press, 2022)
Abstract painting with splashes of colour. Shades of blue and purple on a cream background, some splashy shapes, some more kind of smudgy. All looks a bit cataclysmic.

A spill of yew

Rory Waterman reviews Apostasy by John Burnside (Dare-Gale Press, 2022)
Black and white portrait photograph of Roger Elkin somehow looking both serious and impish.

The Right Questions

Will Daunt  looks at the work of Roger Elkin and the critical relevance of his latest project The F Word
Grainy still from a colour film showing two boxers squaring up in a ring.

The Irish word for love

Chris Edgoose reviews Rescue Contraptions by Joe Duggan (tall-lighthouse, 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
Ink stencil style picture of a cat (the Mariscat cat) on a cream watercolour background.

Vivat Mariscat

The Friday Poem talks to Hamish Whyte of Mariscat Press
Some white text on a bright blue background, the text is a small part of the words "Notes from the North".

Bullets, grenade-shards, mortar casings and barricades

Tim Murphy reviews Notes from the North by Suji Kwock Kim (Smith|Doorstop, 2022)
A drawing of a horses head, the head is looking at us and seems to be on the body of a woman wearing a blue coat. The background is cream and white.

Bone white, star bright

Stephen Payne reviews Feeling Unusual by Ann Drysdale (Shoestring Press, 2022)
Head and shoulders photo of Rachael. She has short brown hair and glasses. She has her baby daughter in a sling across her chest.

Castaway Companions

Castaway poet Rachael Matthews choses poems by Jennifer L Knox, Adrienne Rich, and Kathleen Jamie for her desert island stay
A black silhouette of a naked woman, kneeling, prostrate, on a bright blue background.

The making of a new crown

D.A. Prince reviews A Little Resurrection by Selina Nwulu (Bloomsbury, 2022)
What looks like an acrylic painting of vines, berries and white flowers.

You make a mirrorball out of the rain

Mat Riches reviews Glut by Ramona Herdman (Nine Arches, 2022)