The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

The Frip

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)
An open book with a colourful party blower resting on the pages. The words "Matilda told such Dreadful Lies, She should have looked after her teeth" are just about visible above it.

This barter of enthusiasm

Funny poems by Norman MacCaig, William Makepeace Thackeray and Alexander Hutchison, chosen by Chris Edgoose, D.A. Prince and Richie McCaffery
Dark purple circles on a pale pink background. The circles look a bit like cells and are surrounded by dots and same shapes in swirling patterns.

The year I was lost in the core of a star

Hilary Menos reviews Ovarium by Joanna Ingham (Emma Press, 2022)
Looking through an underpass. A house can be discerned through distant mist.

Tangerine seethe beneath coal crackle

Annie Fisher reviews Relativism by Mary Ford Neal (Taproot Press, 2022)
Picture of Don looking straight at the camera, He has a gray beard and a bald head, black jacket and white shirt.

My boy is painting outer space

Unpack a poem: Ben Wilkinson on 'The Circle' by Don Paterson
Black background with the face of a china doll, cracked, with piercing blue eyes.

Your gift living on in cracked pots carried from garden to garden 

Maggie Mackay reviews The Doll's Hospital by Jenny Robb (Yaffle, 2022)
Naive painting of the backs of two people sitting on a wall, one has a red headscarf and orange skirt, one is dressed in black

The cruelty and largesse of high water

Mat Riches reviews Summer / Break by Richie McCaffery (Shoestring, 2022)