Poetry review – A RAVEN ON A WRITING DESK: D A Prince finds an intriguing mix of both rich and pared-back language in Julie Hogg’s collection
year 2025
THE MOON LOOKS ON THEM ALL: Angela Topping browses a collection of essays by John Lucas on the subject of friends and friendship
Poetry review – DEAR LIFE: Jennifer Johnson admires the broad and compassionate scope of a major collection by Shanta Acharya
The Marriage of Figaro. Review by Julia Pascal. In The Marriage of Figaro, director Joe Hill-Gibbins sets the comic opera in a contemporary décor which pulls the 18th century critique of misogyny into our own time.
Poetry review – OCTOPUS MIND: Kate Noakes finds Rachel Carney’s examination of dyspraxia to be both perceptive and precise.
BREATH AND SHADOW: Charles Rammelkamp enjoys a collection of short-short stories by Robert Scotellaro and Meg Pokrass
Stalled. Review by Barbara Lewis. The toilet options in the refurbished King’s Head Theatre are urinals for the real men and, for everyone else, unisex cubicles – or should I say stalls? to pick up the central pun in this musical set in a restroom that is exclusively for women.
Poetry review – UNKNOWN WOMAN AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS: Jennifer Johnson considers a collection of well-observed vignettes and character studies by Alan Price
855-FOR-TRUTH: An end of the world love story. Review by Barbara Lewis. “LUST IS A SIN. BURN IN HELL, OR CALL 855-FOR-TRUTH,” were the words writer Eva Hudson saw screaming from a billboard at the side of a highway as she journeyed through America.
Poetry review – INTO THE HUSH: Charles Rammelkamp delights in the small appreciative details among Arthur Sze’s observations of the universe
Golem – Piotr Szulkin. Review by Alan Price. Golem is a brave oddity: an out to lunch curiosity that equally attracts and repels. It’s great that Second Run have made it available again.
Poetry review – THE SHORES OF VAIKUS: Stuart Henson is captivated by this myth-like sequence of sometimes cruel, sometimes enchanting prose-poems by Philip Gross
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2025 0 • Tags: books, poetry, Stuart Henson