There are plenty of interesting poetry collections to be reading at the moment, especially since the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist was recently announced (in my case, working through a back catalogue of interesting collections I managed to miss, including Muldoon's Horse Latitudes and Robin Robinson's Forward Prize-winning Swithering). But if you only decide, or get chance, to read one poetry collection in the coming month, I'd recommend Jacob Polley's excellent Little Gods.Published December '06, I'm yet to come across much critical reception to Polley's second collection, but I suspect the discussions circulating in the online poetry forums give an idea: ostensibly, that it's pretty damn impressive stuff. And if that brief and ineloquent critical summation of the many varied and interesting things people have had to say about Little Gods (not to mention many other poets and collections), isn't enough to have you surfing across to Amazon immediately, then why not read my review of Little Gods on The Poem? The 'Offshoots' and reviews section is here.
The picture, incidentally, was taken by a friend of mine, Alex Davis. The instant I saw it it called to mind Polley's poem 'October', the final piece in Little Gods. You can find it here.
5 comments:
Ben - why not come down and read with Jacob for me in London - March 8th. Can offer you a modest fee plus your train fare. PM me on thepoem site or email me on my name (no dots, underlines etc) at yahoo.co.uk
Roddy
As a poet, and an avid reader, I have to say that I very much enjoyed my leisurely stroll through your blog...it was time well spent; entertaining and enlightening. I invite you to visit my own, should you care to.
Nice one again Ben! Better get a crate load in ;)
Thanks for your kind remarks, lettershaper, and thanks to you too, Barbara. If either of you haven't, I strongly advise reading Jacob Polley's new collection, if not only the poem 'October', that I linked to in this particular posting. I'll hopefully be reading with Jake at an event in London in the future - I'll keep you informed, as always, via the blog.
I read it just now Ben - it's a nice fusion of rhyme, repetition and a solid reworking of one of the oldest of inspirations, that oul moon.
I'll look into that collection too and look forward to your review of the evening in question!
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