The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Frip

Paul Muldoon standing in front of a grey wall looking 'ard. He has grey curly hair and glasses, and he is wearing a brown tweed jacket and tie and a dark shirt.

With a pink and a pink and a pinkie-pick

Unpack a Poem: Steven Lovatt on 'The Loaf' by Paul Muldoon
A detail from 'Hato zu' a woodcut by Konen Uchara. It shows a rolling blue ocean with white flecks and a blue sky.

Letting the shadow out of the box

Hilary Menos reviews Turn Up the Ocean by Tony Hoagland (Bloodaxe, 2022)
A poster-style graphic that shows four sheep heads each on a different coloured background. It's like Andy Warhol's Marilyn paintings, but with sheep.

SHEEP SHEEP SHEEP SHEEP FOX SHEEP SHEEP SHEEP

Emma Simon reviews What the sheep taught me by Mary Mulholland (Live Canon, 2022)
Black and white photograph of Sylvia Plath looking directly at the camera. There are bookshelves in the background. It can't be that warm because she's wearing a woolly cardigan with a plaid trim under the buttons.

Hooks and Visions: Sylvia Plath and Me

Poet Sarah Corbett takes a break from her role as producer and director of the Sylvia Plath Literary Festival to talk about what first drew her to Plath's work
Black background covered in a myriad of small white shapes. At first the look like birds, but as one looks more closely they look like small abstract figures on horseback. Or maybe on camels. Who knows?

Uncharted territory

Helena Nelson reviews Imperium by Jay Gao (Carcanet, 2022)
Hand holding a red balloon, written on the balloon in white text is the following "Before I have time to answer, I’m in bed with Daniel Craig. He’s stirring out of sleep, smelling of Tobacco Vanille."

This barter of enthusiasm 2

Matthew Stewart, Annie Fisher and Christopher James choose funny-serious poems by Maria Taylor, Luke Kennard and Billy Collins
Black and white composite image of Zoë Brigley and Rhian Edwards.

We punch above our weight and compete with the big five

The Friday Poem talks to Zoë Brigley and Rhian Edwards, the new Poetry Editors at Seren Books
Partial text of the words 'England's Green'. The text is light green serif font on a dark green background. That's imaginative.

Candle flowered kingdoms around the Black Sea

Carl Tomlinson reviews England's Green by Zaffar Kunial (Faber, 2022)
Black and white detail from a woodcut showing skeletons marching and clambering, some playing horns.

Limited only by things unseen

Richie McCaffery reviews Hex and Other Poems by Shane McCrae (Bad Betty, 2022)
Line drawing of a lily on a pink background

Gathering flowers

In Conversation: The Friday Poem talks to Kathryn Gray and Andrew Neilson, founders and editors of digital poetry journal Bad Lilies
A section from what could be a stained glass window; it shows a central diamond shape with a blue background and a yellow horse silhouette standing on a yellow crown. There are diamonds of dark and pale red and yellow around.

Hydra heads of rebellions

Matthew Stewart reviews The Kentish Rebellion by Robert Selby (Shoestring, 2022)
A red background has a repeating pattern on it, the pattern comprises two open hands with stigmata, a syringe with a needle and some figs, halved and whole.

The wasp in the fig’s tissue, sharp as a slice of paper

Bruno Cooke reviews Stephen the Phlebotomist by Nadia Lines (Nine Pens, 2022)