Danse Macabre – Katha Pollitt’s The Mind-Body Problem
As we stood filling the ashtray, a whey-faced seminarian dispensed advice about the forthcoming term at Rome’s Gregorian University. I …
Tag Archives: poems
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Shazea Quraishi’s The Courtesans Reply
When I admit to reading almost nothing in translation, people are unimpressed, and I admit it: they have a good …
The Drowners – Kim Moore’s If We Could Speak Like Wolves
I eventually looked through the bedroom window, towards the source of the noise, and a ghost, street lit in Thames …
Full fathom five – Richie McCaffery’s Spinning Plates
On clearing my great aunt’s house, my parents presented me with her ACME Thunderer. She was a teacher from the …
Warm Leatherette: Robert Wrigley’s The Church of Omnivorous Light
The Church of Omnivorous Light, Robert Wrigley’s first UK publication, spans a lifetime’s writing and nine collections. At times, I …
Made of Stone – Kay Ryan’s Odd Blocks
When my dad claimed that our cat was a bit stupid, I simmered with fury at his betrayal of a …
Wide Open Space – Vera Pavlova’s If There Is Something to Desire
Wayside shrines, flowers strung up on lampposts with a couple of turns of parcel tape, wither and rot but, once …
Do You Realize?? – D. Nurkse’s A Night in Brooklyn
Watching horror films, I nestle my tongue into the roof of my mouth for fear of biting it off. Whether …
Man in the Mirror – Ben Parker’s The Escape Artists
It’s difficult to pin down what exactly it is about a George Shaw that’s so disconcerting. At one level, there’s …
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Kevin Reid’s Body Voices
‘I am long and pink. At first I am hard but, when you bang me, I go soft’.* I suppose …
Poor Rude Lines 