Great balls of fire – Keith Chandler’s The Goldsmith’s Apprentice
Sadly, the lube applied to my intimate area was not recreational but medical. Following numbness, blood, a phone call, I …
Author Archives: johnfield1
Piercing the Veil: Fiona Moore’s The Distal Point
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery was just a refuge from the pipers and Fringe flyers on Princes Street, so I …
Kevin Reid’s Burdlife
Its high pitch and speed makes birdsong feel utterly alien. However, Marcus Coates’s stunning installation, ‘Dawn Chorus‘, closes that distance. …
Let’s talk about sex, baby – Jennifer Copley’s Some Couples
Suede’s debut single, ‘The Drowners’, enacts a war between Butler’s masculine, strident rhythm guitar and the androgyny of Anderson’s lyrics …
Timewatching – Luke Wright’s The Toll
My father’s watch clasps my wrist now. Big shoes to fill, his shoes. The removal of three links slimmed it …
Back to Black -Charlotte Gann’s Noir
Setting the tropes of film noir aside for a moment, Raymond Chandler’s iconic sleuth, Philip Marlowe, feels more like Eliot’s Tiresias: …
Knives out – Matthew Stewart’s The Knives of Villalejo
Our Gothic dopplegängers suppress our unease. Conveniently externalised, Mr Hyde and Victor’s creature stalk the margins. We reassure ourselves that the …
Ian Duhig’s ‘The Blind Roadmaker’
This review was commissioned for the T.S. Eliot Prize newsletter and is reprinted with kind permission. This review was commissioned for the T.S. …
Vahni Capildeo’s Measures of Expatriation
This review was commissioned for the T.S. Eliot Prize newsletter and is reprinted with kind permission. Vahni Capildeo’s Forward Prize …
The 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize
For various reasons, 2016 was not much of a year for reading, or reviewing poetry. So, the experience of reviewing …
