Applications Open for Free Online Workshop Series: Writing Poetry Collaboratively
For the first time, Second City Poets will be running a formal workshop series on collaboration in poetry. Applications are open to groups of two to five poets* who, ideally, already have an interest in collaboration (though no practical experience is necessary). This is a free opportunity with no registration fee; for successful applicants wishing…
Review: Samatar Elmi, ‘Portrait of Colossus’
Samatar Elmi, Portrait of Colossus (flipped eye publishing)28 January 2021£427 pages of poetry (24 poems)Review by Anne Gill I Before I read a book, I like to flick through the pages, eyes unfocused. I get a quick impression of the text: density, variation, length. In Samatar Elmi’s Portrait of Colossus, the poems are all different.…
Review: Ian Davidson, ‘From a Council House in Connacht’
Ian Davidson, From a Council House in Connacht (Oystercatcher Press)23 February 2021£522 pages of poetry (18 poems)Review by Sean Colletti I At the launch of From a Council House in Connacht, Ian Davidson recounts the various ways in which his recent pamphlet has been identified—poetry, memoir, diary and essay. The length of the poetry pamphlet…
Review: Matthew Caley, ‘Prophecy is Easy’
Matthew Caley, Prophecy is Easy (Blueprint Poetry Press)15 January 2021£7.5018 pages of poetry (15 poems)Review by Sean Colletti I Even the author’s note at the beginning of Prophecy is Easy is exciting; “shrinking, cutting out, merging, misappropriating and wilfully [sic] mis-reading” as a process for translation of Modernist and Surrealist French poetry gives Matthew Caley’s…
Review: Hannah Hodgson, ‘Where I’d Watch Plastic Trees Not Grow’
Hannah Hodgson, Where I’d Watch Plastic Trees Not Grow (Verve Poetry Press)18 February 2021£7.5025 pages of poetry (23 poems)Review by Sean Colletti I The back of Hannah Hodgson’s second pamphlet reads “These poems are heavy with import, but they are light with the liveliness of art that is beautifully rendered.” Nowhere is this dichotomy more…
Reviews are now appearing on our website
Hello, readers! Our ‘Blog’ tab has changed to ‘Articles & Reviews’, as our website will now be including written reviews of poetry publications in addition to future features and other types of articles. If any publishers are interested in sending review copies (either in print form or electronically as .pdf files), please get in contact…
Unicycle Slipstreams and Making Camels: Collaborating During a Pandemic
My favourite part of the collaborative process is right when the pieces begin to fit—when you reach that place where the poem opens up—and it’s a collective moment, not a lonely and individual one. * I leave Sean a voicemail. I have a conversation with Hannah. In both examples, I address someone. When I talk…
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