Poetry reviews – STILL LIFE and SUBCUTANEOUS: Emma Storr reviews prizewinning chapbooks by Rebecca Bilkau and Maria Isakova-Bennett
books
Poetry Review – HOTEL AMOUR: Sarah Leavesley finds this collection by Deryn Rees-Jones offers questions and images that are endlessly fascinating
Poetry review – WILD BOAR Pat Edwards explores the world conjured and vividly conveyed by Jenny Hope’s poems
Poetry Review – WHEREOF: Jennifer Johnson discovers what she thinks about the philosophical poetry of Christopher Norris
Poetry review – SUNBATHING WITH FISHERMEN: Emma Storr admires the strength of feeling in Penny Sharman’s poems whether they are dealing with pain and loss or joy and pleasure
Poetry review – SELECTED POEMS: Paul McDonald enjoys a well-chosen and well-arranged selection of Maurice Riordan’s work
Poetry review – NOT MY BEST SIDE: John Forth admires this new selection of U A Fanthorpe’s poetry for its laconic and compassionate voice and its comic precision
Poetry review – THE MAYDAY DIARIES: D A Prince admires Robin Houghton’s wide-ranging collection which succeeds in mixing the personal with the political
Poetry review – THE COLOUR OF RAIN: Pat Edwards finds her imagination stirred by the poems in Susan Utting’s new collection
Poetry review – TOOK MY WAY DOWN, LIKE A MESSENGER, TO THE DEEP: Edmund Prestwich admires the intricacy of Linda France’s sonnet sequence linking the paintings of Leonora Carrington with the experience of lockdown
Poetry review – VELVEL’S VIOLIN: Wendy Klein reviews a collection by Jacqueline Saphra whose themes have acquired even more depth and significance in light of post-publication events
Poetry review – MARGINAL FUTURE: James Roderick Burns examines S J Litherland’s rich and vivid state-of-the-nation collection and finds it grimly truthful but not without hope
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2025