Michael Sims, Director of the T.S. Eliot Prize, has reminded me that I have been writing about the shortlist since 2015 – that’s 120 collections! The complete archive is accessible on the website.
Here are links to a few of my favourites:
The poems in Ephemeron acknowledge life’s cruelty, its brevity and its suffering. However, woven through Benson’s universe is the immortal power of love – and this, she shows us, is enough to redeem us.
Jay Bernard’s Surge meditates on the New Cross house fire which killed 13 young black people in 1981. It’s an enraged, erudite collection in which resonating voices become a deafening cry.
Richard Scott’s Soho is underpinned by a close engagement with decadent and queer culture, lending his poems a lyricism which serves as a counterpoint to their passion and pain.